2015 Cuvee Christine Syrah

From a blend of Kobler, Lawer, and Steiner vineyards, the 2015 Syrah Cuvée Christine offers a northern Rhône bouquet of black olives, bacon fat, smoked earth and meaty, peppery notes. It’s medium to full-bodied, beautifully balanced, and layered, with a killer finish. It’s another awesome Sonoma County Syrah from this team. This is another brilliant lineup of wines from the Donelan Family, with the wines made by Joe Nielson. While their estate Obsidian Vineyard was lost in the fires last year, they’re already in the process of planning and replanting the site, and I was thrilled to taste through a small retrospective from what’s unquestionably one of the great terroirs in California. Looking at the 2015s, which are by and large the current releases, these are structured, tannic wines that are going to benefit from short term cellaring.

Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, the 2015 Syrah Cuvee Christine rocks up with gregarious blackberry preserves, blueberry pie and warm plums notes with touches of star anise, cloves, Sichuan pepper and charcuterie plus a waft of wild thyme. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers mouth-filling black and blue fruits with tons of spicy sparks, finishing very long and savory.

The 2015 Syrah Cuvée Christine is dense, pliant and super-expressive, with striking aromatics, vivid fruit and fabulous overall balance. The tannins are a bit forbidding today, but all the elements are in place for the 2015 to develop effortlessly. Sage, leather, tobacco and incense add an exotic element to the dark blue/purplish fruit in this alluring, sensual Syrah. This is a very sexy wine from Donelan.