2015 Waxwing, Syrah, Halcon Vineyards, Yorkville Highlands.
Scott Sisemore’s ripe and opulent 2015 Waxwing Halcon Vineyards Syrah from Mendocino County’s Yorkville Highlands is one of the best wines to date from his small hand crafted winery. This is a full bodied and exciting effort that shows the region’s exceptional potential for this grape, and while Drew and Copain has shown that Syrah in Mendocino can be world class, these 2014 and 2015 wines are on the next level, certainly Waxwing’s is a gorgeous example, which I can highly recommend. The 2015 Halcon Syrah by Waxwing shows brilliant detail and succulent deep fruit along with a touch of sexy earthiness, bramble spice and flinty/graphite to go along with pretty floral elements and cassis that add complexity to it’s lavish core palate of boysenberry, marionberry, black currant jam and plummy fruits along with anise, peppered lavender, lingering liquid violets, blueberry, briar notes and smoky embers. Hints of French barrel add a sense of class and quality without being intrusive in this bigger framed Syrah, which comes in at about 15% alcohol, though fine acidity and velvet like tannins give wonderful mouth feel and harmony, making this wine more polished and Guigal Cote-Rotie like in a flamboyant frame rather than a racy/edgy stemmy Cornas. Sisemore is making some alluring wines, all in very small lots, no more than a couple of barrels of each, and it’s good time to get into his Waxwing wines, especially his Pinot, Dry Rose and this very dark purple/blue inky and garnet hued Syrah.
($47 Est.) 93+ Points, grapelive

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