K Vintners Syrah Milbrandt 2016

This wine is a blend of fruit from Northridge (54%) and Clifton Hill vineyards. The aromas offer notes of wet gravel, dried and fresh stem, orange rind, blackberry and dark plum. Sweet, somewhat linear raspberry and darker fruit flavors follow that bring a sense of purity and intent, with slightly tacky-seeming tannins backing it all up.

A blend of two plots, this is fermented as whole clusters in stainless steel and aged in puncheons (25% new) for 15 months. Savory and tarry notes with dried-cherry aromas and flavors, too. There’s freshness and long-form tannin depth from extended maceration here, which holds this wine long and even. Drink this for a decade from now.