JebDunnuck.com

• By Jeb Dunnuck
  Latest Releases from Washington State, 4/5/2018 (link)

  (Delmas Syrah SJR Vineyard) Subscribe to see review text.

Vinous

• By Stephen Tanzer
  Washington: Various Shades of Hot (Oct 2017), 10/1/2017 (link)

  (Delmas Syrah Sjr Vineyard Washington Red) Subscribe to see review text.

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Move Along, 10/12/2017

  (Delmas Syrah) Hello friends. Move along. Nothing to see here. Admittedly trying to sneak this one out on a day (Thursday) when we don’t normally send offers, because we really don’t have close to enough of this wine. To put things in perspective, last year’s 2014 vintage saw max allocations of 2 bottles per list member, and this year’s allocation has dropped by 52%. Gulp.I’m not going to say much this year because we have so little of this wine. It sounds like next year’s 2016 will have much greater availability, so I’ll write at more length then. For now, if you want the longer story on Delmas and SJR Vineyard and the wonderful Robertson family, please see our archive. We’re going to set max order limits at 1 bottle per list member, and if you get shut out, please consider joining the Delmas mailing/waiting list. The very short version of the story: SJR Vineyard, owned by Steve Robertson, is located at the far southwestern edge of the rocks, with 8 acres currently in production, and another 2 acres planted this year. It’s mostly Syrah, with a little Grenache and a little Viognier. Billo Naravane (winemaker at Rasa Vineyards and newly-minted Master of Wine; congrats, Billo!) is the consulting winemaker. Brooke Robertson (Steve’s daughter) is now managing the vineyard, after several years getting her viticulture master’s at Cal Poly and working at Harlan Estate in the Napa Valley. I had a chance to hang out with Brooke in the vineyard earlier this year, and she is a dynamo, with a lot of fascinating ideas about how to grow grapes in the rocks. The future seems bright indeed for this project. As for the present, the 2015 (130 cases total) is a 91% Syrah/9% Viognier coferment. It clocks in at 14.5% listed alc and offers everything you could want from a rocks nose: huckleberry fruit, violets and bacon fat, white pepper and black olive, brackish kelpy notes. Ridiculous. Texturally, this is rich and silky, with that high-pH (3.9) rocks mouthfeel that makes folks swoon. It’s a beautiful wine; I only wish we had more of it. International Wine Report (Owen Bargreen): “The 2015 Delmas Syrah is a compelling blend of 91.4% Syrah with 8.6% Viognier that is sourced from the esteemed SJR Vineyard, located in the Walla Walla Rocks region in Milton-Freewater. This outstanding Syrah was aged for 14 months in French oak (60% new) prior to bottling and is unfined and unfiltered. As this opens it releases deep aromatics reminiscent of black tea, wild blackberry jam, barnfloor, thyme, crushed wet rocks, milk chocolate and black olives. On the palate the texture is absolutely incredible, backed by a silky mouthfeel which gracefully glides across the palate. The black fruits are powerful, dense and layered adding in Umami, Hoisin sauce, sweet blood orange and wet stones which add complexity. This is another incredible release by Delmas and talented winemaker Billo Naravane. (Best 2017-2028). 95pts.”