Desire Lines Syrah Sky Vineyard

The nose is a little strange right now (not in a bad way) kind of like you made a savory sauce of sweet blue fruit, bloody beef and crema flavored with sage and rosemary. In the mouth spicy dark forest berries with a bunch of fresh herbs, iron filings and lavender. Lighter side of medium body but with firm structure of both tannin and acid and a long ethereal finish. Very nice wine in need of time.

Young still but very impressive. Rare wine for me in that right now it is more expressive on the palate than the nose. The nose is still closed a bit after 2.5 hrs decanting. Mid palate is very blue fruited with a minty thing going on. A little more closed on the back end right now but easy to get an idea of where this wine is going. Lots of structure but it is lithe and compact rather than big …

This is lithe, juicy, wild, red and blue fruited Syrah. If you want something dense and tannic it’s not for you, but I want the opposite. What I imagine walking through this mountain vineyard on a chilly morning tastes and smells like.

Decanted this bottle for ~2 hours then poured into Grassl 1855s. Very primary right now, showing lots of purple (i.e., grape-y) fruit. With time and air this recedes to show a more nuanced, savory wine underneath that fruit with mint and green pepper adding an herbal streak. I'm a big fan of Sky, generally, and think this has a good future ahead of it. For my palate it needs several years to move past that initial fruitiness -- will hope …

Sky is one of those IYKYK vineyards, and this wine is definitely an insider’s treasure. Desire Lines is one of my very favorite California wineries, and the Sky Syrah just raises the profile. When I first opened it there was an intense hit of floral - I was in the middle of a field of wildflowers. I honestly did not want to stop smelling it - just too beautiful. Eventually I took a sip and the savory, smoky Syrah essence …

Tasted at pickup day. Great fruit, depth and savoriness, wrapped up in velvet package. Gorgeous all around.