2016 Alder Springs Vineyard Syrah - Stringer Cellars

Dense blackberry, au jus drippings, dried blueberry. Fresh fig, BBQ smoke, black licorice. Blooming violet and lavender concentrate, black peppercorn and crushed rosemary. Thick inky dark fruit begins an attack oozing with black cherry, mulberry, and plum skin that are thoroughly ripe without corresponding sweetness. Tree bark and evergreen chime in along with oyster mushroom to provide complex earthy forest tones as cumin, clove, and nutmeg reveal subtle and tasteful oak. Slow roasted brisket caked in dry rub emerges to turn the tide distinctly savory as it splashes smokey, bloody, iron rich goodness atop the saturated yet lean fruit. Brooding and structured with medium plus tannin and acidity packed inside a full bodied frame. This 2016 Alder Springs Vineyard Syrah by Stringer Cellars is a perfectly poised and marvelously meaty cool climate red from Mendocino County.

The Alder Springs Vineyard is an exceptionally unique growing site located north of the Anderson Valley in Mendocino County. It is an extremely mountainous vineyard lying a mere 12 miles from the Pacific Ocean and it experiences a range of significant cooling influences. This bottling, crafted by Stringer Cellars using Syrah sourced from the Alder Springs Vineyard, is an another amazing example of great wine coming from a strikingly marginal site. This wine is certainly fleshy and ripe yet its focus is squarely on the spiced and savory, with fruit serving merely as a vessel to carry the complexity. It is extremely balanced and well executed with just the right level of polish atop its rugged frame. A tremendous wine from one of Northern California's most interesting cool climate winegrowing zones.