Important Update From the Founder Read message >
Red

2008 Donelan Syrah Obsidian Vineyard

Syrah

  • USA
  • California
  • Sonoma County
  • Knights Valley
Drink between 2012 - 2028 (Edit)
CT92.6 34 reviews
2008
Label borrowed from 2009
2009
Label borrowed from 2009
2009
Label borrowed from 2010
2010
Label borrowed from 2010
2010
Label borrowed from 2011
2011
Label borrowed from 2011
2011
Label borrowed from 2011
2011
Label borrowed from 2012
2012
Label borrowed from 2012
2012
Label borrowed from 2013
2013
Label borrowed from 2013
2013
Label borrowed from 2013
2013
Label borrowed from 2014
2014
Label borrowed from 2014
2014
Label borrowed from 2014
2014
Label borrowed from 2015
2015
Label borrowed from 2016
2016
Label borrowed from 2017
2017

Community Tasting Notes 25

  • ShadowIII Likes this wine: 92 points

    February 16, 2024 - Big dark purple syrah, blackberry, plum, bacon fat, hints of pepper, integrated tannins, long finish

  • jshufelt wrote: 92 points

    July 3, 2023 - More or less consistent with our previous bottles. There are still some residual tannins present to support further development, but I don't anticipate dramatic changes from this point. If you haven't already opened one, now is the time.

  • jlgnml Likes this wine: 93 points

    August 28, 2021 - Solid. Only getting better.

  • Callybrian Likes this wine: 88 points

    March 2, 2021 - Just a wonderful nose on this syrah, very earthy and dank. The flavor is very mature, lots of prune and tannins. Seems like it's well past it's prime.

    1 person found this helpful Comment
  • arthrovine wrote:

    April 20, 2020 - Popped and poured. followed over 6 hours. Grassl stems. Stored in offsite professional storage since release.

    Heat and mild blue fruit on nose. The wine is youtful and unyielding and I checked it twice for the presence of a screw cap. (cork enclosure). Moderate tannin. Very mild savory qualities. Very smooth...too smooth. Wood is present. Good acidity. Heat on finish. I had high expectations and kept waiting for the gutteral satisfaction of a meaty bloody mineral-lly savory California syrah. This is far from it. The experience suggests heavy handed winemaking. Or, maybe this bottle was shut down. Doubtful though at 12 years. Perhaps a vitamix aeration and decanting technique would have helped.

    This is a poor QPR. There are many other good syrahs having tremendous development at 12 years costing much less.

1 - 5 of 25 More notes

Pro Reviews 0

Add a Pro Review

Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews. Learn more.

Manage Subscriptions
  • No pro reviews found.

Wine Definition

  • Vintage 2008
  • Type Red
  • Producer Donelan
  • Varietal Syrah
  • Designation n/a
  • Vineyard Obsidian Vineyard
  • Country USA
  • Region California
  • SubRegion Sonoma County
  • Appellation Knights Valley

Community Holdings

  • Pending Delivery 14 (2%)
  • In Cellars 263 (46%)
  • Consumed 298 (52%)

Food Pairing

No food pairings available.

Who Likes This Wine

100% Like It  9 votes

More About This Wine

Articles

Report a Problem

Close
© 2003-24 CellarTracker! LLC.

Report a Problem

Close