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2020 Bien Nacido Estate, Syrah, Santa Maria Valley, California, USA

  • Red
  • Dry
  • Full Bodied
  • Syrah
Alder Yarrow
17/20
Antonio Galloni
90/100
Jeb Dunnuck
93+/100
Erin Brooks
95/100
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Product: 20208031811
2020 Bien Nacido Estate, Syrah, Santa Maria Valley, California, USA

Description

Includes about 1% co-planted, co-fermented Viognier. This wine usually sees 30–60% whole-cluster fermentation but was destemmed in 2020. Mostly pumpovers. Aged in roughly 25% new 600-litre demi-muids and a few barriques for 16 months. Bottled unfiltered and unfined. 350 cases made.

Dark garnet. Smells of sweet blackberry fruit. Bright blackberry and blueberry fruit flavours have a crisp freshness thanks to excellent acidity and a nice floral brightness. Lightly grippy tannins gain strength over time.

Drink 2023 - 2028

Alder Yarrow, JancisRobinson.com (August 2023)

Colour Red
Sweetness Dry
Vintage 2020
Alcohol % 13
Grape List Syrah
Body Full Bodied
Property Bien Nacido Vineyards

Critics reviews

Alder Yarrow 17/20
Includes about 1% co-planted, co-fermented Viognier. This wine usually sees 30–60% whole-cluster fermentation but was destemmed in 2020. Mostly pumpovers. Aged in roughly 25% new 600-litre demi-muids and a few barriques for 16 months. Bottled unfiltered and unfined. 350 cases made.Dark garnet. Smells of sweet blackberry fruit. Bright blackberry and blueberry fruit flavours have a crisp freshness thanks to excellent acidity and a nice floral brightness. Lightly grippy tannins gain strength over time.Drink 2023 - 2028alder_yarrow, JancisRobinson.com (August 2023)
Drink 2023 - 2028
Alder Yarrow, JancisRobinson.com (Aug 2023)
Antonio Galloni 90/100
The 2020 Syrah Estate Bien Nacido Vineyard is a powerful, dense wine. Firm tannins wrap around a core of inky blue/purplish fruit. Severe late-season heat is felt in the wine's potent, large-scaled tannins. It will be interesting to see where this goes. Lavender, liquorice, cloves and leather add an impression of sombre intensity. I am not sure if the tannins will ever soften here.Anthony Avila turned out a gorgeous set of wines at both Bien Nacido Estate and Solomon Hills Estate. Avila commented that yields were generous in 2020 because of good set. Skins were light, though, so extractions took some time. The Chardonnays were mostly off before the worst of the heat, while spikes were harder on the later-ripening varieties. In this vintage, the Pinots were fully destemmed.Drink 2023 - 2033antonio_galloni, Vinous.com.com (August 2022)
Drink 2023 - 2028
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (Aug 2022)
Jeb Dunnuck 93+/100
The 2020 Estate Syrah (there’s 1% Viognier) is another cool-climate, balanced, classic, and incredibly classy wine from this label that has tons to love. Blackberries, peppery herbs, liquid violets, and some gamey nuances give way to a medium-bodied Syrah with fine tannins, a vibrant, crunchy, yet pure mouthfeel, integrated acidity, and a great finish.These are brilliant wines across the board from Bien Nacido’s Anthony Avila, who has been at the estate since 2013. The farming here is managed by Chris Hammell, and this all-star team is delivering the goods.jeb_dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (August 2022)
Drink 2023 - 2028
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (Aug 2022)
Erin Brooks 95/100
The 2020 Syrah Bien Nacido Vineyard comes from Block Z, where there are a few Viognier vines interplanted with Syrah, and all the grapes are co-fermented. Deep ruby-purple in colour, the nose offers classic tar and violet with a core of blueberry jam and touches of powdered sugar, salami and cracked pepper. The palate is full-bodied and powerful, with loads of rounded tannins, integrated freshness and a long, perfumed finish streaked with botanical nuances. About 250 cases were made.Drink 2022 - 2027erin_brooks, Wine Advocate (December 2022)
Drink 2023 - 2028
Erin Brooks, RobertParker.com (Dec 2022)

About this wine

Syrah/Shiraz

A noble black grape variety grown particularly in the Northern Rhône where it produces the great red wines of Hermitage, Cote Rôtie and Cornas, and in Australia where it produces wines of startling depth and intensity. Reasonably low yields are a crucial factor for quality as is picking at optimum ripeness. Its heartland, Hermitage and Côte Rôtie, consists of 270 hectares of steeply terraced vineyards producing wines that brim with pepper, spices, tar and black treacle when young. After 5-10 years they become smooth and velvety with pronounced fruit characteristics of damsons, raspberries, blackcurrants and loganberries. It is now grown extensively in the Southern Rhône where it is blended with Grenache and Mourvèdre to produce the great red wines of Châteauneuf du Pape and Gigondas amongst others. Its spiritual home in Australia is the Barossa Valley, where there are plantings dating as far back as 1860. Australian Shiraz tends to be sweeter than its Northern Rhône counterpart and the best examples are redolent of new leather, dark chocolate, liquorice, and prunes and display a blackcurrant lusciousness. South African producers such as Eben Sadie are now producing world- class Shiraz wines that represent astonishing value for money.

Bien Nacido Estate

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