Tasting Notes
95 Pts Jeb Dunnuck The 2016 Syrah Silver Eagle Vineyard comes from a site in the Russian River and was 40% destemmed and spent 18 months in 40% new French oak. It has a thrilling bouquet of smoked black and blue fruits, ground pepper, licorice, bacon fat, and spice. This opulent, hedonistic, incredibly sexy wine has some background vanilla oak, a lush texture, sweet tannins, and the purity of fruit that make 2016 so special. Drink this rocking wine over the coming 7-8 years. 92 Pts Conn Guide If at first seeming a wine preoccupied with high ripeness, this one quickly reveals elements of stony soils and intriguing suggestions of graphite to its intense and ongoing theme of fully extracted blackberry fruit, and, once in the mouth, it exhibits a noted degree of youthful tightness that mitigates its riper tendencies. It is, on the one hand, forthright in its ripe fruit but, on the other, is built for age and teases with glimpses of nascent complexity to come. Its obvious aspects are certain to tempt drinking in only a few years, yet we see more than a few reasons to wait and would opt for five or six years of additional age. Reviewed: March 2019 92 Pts Wine Enthusiast Brawny grippy tannins take hold of a full-bodied output of earthy compost and thick walls of dense, concentrated black cherry and blackberry in this robust well-made wine from a great vineyard site. The earthiness persists in leading to garrigue and grilled meat on the lingering finish. 92 Pts Wine Spectator
A firm core is wrapped in rich and expressive blackberry, smoky meat and licorice flavors that take on speed toward big but polished tannins. Drink now through 2025. –TF 92+ Pts Wine Advocate The 2016 Syrah Silver Eagle Vineyard has a very deep, opaque purple-black color and nose of baked blueberry, black cherry preserves, warm blackberries and nuances of black olive, fried herbs and bacon fat. Full-bodied, it's big and bold in the mouth with dark fruit layers supported by firm, ripe, grainy tannins, finishing on a savory olive note.
Vineyard Notes
Situated in the rolling hills north of West Sonoma County on the border of the Green Valley and Sonoma Coast Appellations, Silver Eagle Vineyard sits well above the valleys of the Russian River, offering its vines a respite from the thick fog that often covers those below. Consistent daytime sun and heat combine with the cool nights from the nearby ocean to build this site’s signature terroir.
The vines are tended by Ulises Valdez, whose passion for the grapevine and cultivation underscore what results from vision, determination and a good attitude.