Halter Ranch, Syrah, Adelaida District

High strawberry nose. Silky smooth citrus, cherry, black licorice. Very fine. Need more.

Medium bodied, good fruit, hints of pepper.

86 points. Tasted at the winery and bought a bottle since they comped the tasting. I hoped that it would improve over the next two years and develop some more consistent secondary characteristics. Unfortunately after opening it recently it remained overly primary and the oak completely took over. Heavily extracted unfocused red fruit notes and an overly oaked nature that showed toasted coconut and overt vanilla tones. Lacking in secondary characteristics and overall depth. I don't mind heavily oaked wines …

Purple-black in color, 15.4% abv, with 81% Syrah, 11% Malbec, 5% Mourvedre, and even 3% Viognier. The hot Paso Robles sun comes through on the nose, in a big way, with upfront, jammy black cherries and blueberry syrup extract. A bit of mint and licorice on the backend, maybe chocolate covered cherries. The wine is full bodied on the palate, ushering in black cherry and blueberry fruit in a slightly overdone way (for my palate), with fine-grained tannins, tons of …