Alban 2019 Syrah, Patrina Estate, Edna Valley

Description

Alban’s Rhone varietal wines are considered some of the very best grown in California. The vineyards are a patchwork of isolated soil types; Reva, Lorraine, Seymour’s and Pandora (very much wines of a place). Between and in route to these well healed sites are vineyards that are not so obviously distinct. For this wine they have blended these disparate,’ disenfranchised’ blocks into a single wine called Patrina.While the grapes for Patrina are raised with the same detail and attentiveness as the rest of their vineyards, and then fermented open top with indigenous yeast, gentle pump overs and a few punch downs once soft, it is bottled unfined and unfiltered after ‘just’ 22 months in barrel to preserve its youthful exuberance. Jeb Dunnuck scored this 93 points saying “The 2019 Patrina offers lots of smoky red and black fruits as well as violets, pepper, and graphite notes. It’s forward, charming, textured, and balanced, with plenty of classic Alban character. I’d be happy to drink…