2024 Roar, Syrah, Rosella’s Vineyard, Estate Grown, Santa Lucia Highlands.
One of my favorite wines from our local vineyards, and possibly one of the most underrated and under the radar wines from the Santa Lucia Highlands, the Roar Rosella’s Syrah, which is an absolutely gorgeous wine in the 2024 vintage with feline muscular structure, deep fruit concentration, beautiful aromatics and feral spiciness, rivaling elite Syrah from both the old world and new world! The tiny remaining parcel of Syrah left at the Rosella’s Vineyard, the Franscioni home estate, is only used to make this wine, none is sold to other producers, making this even more rare and distinctive, with its unique Alban clone, cooler climate and loam/sand decomposed granite soils helping provide long hang time and complex flavor development, proven here with this latest version. The generous, vinous and lively full bodied palate reveals a seamless flow of boysenberry, damson plum, black currant, tangy blueberry and wild cherry fruits, along with classic, but non aggressive peppercorn spice, sweet cedar, savory licorice, pretty violets, a touch of bacon, camphor, tapenade and subtle vanilla notes. More Côte Rôtie elegant in style, rather than raw Cornas at this stage, this 2024 Roar Rosella’s Syrah is youthful and firm, but polished and shows good aging potential as well, this is excellent and rich in detail, lifted nicely by natural acidity and finishes with a lovely long aftertaste. I highly recommend searching high and low for this one and while you’ll be tempted to pop every cork here, best to retrain yourself and put a few extra in the cellar to enjoy in 5 to 10 years! Also, considering the price of the top Pinots here, the Syrah remains a serious bargain in the Roar collection, and as I’ve been quietly saying since the 2004 vintage, the Syrah just might be the best wine, bang for the buck in the Santa Lucia Highlands!
It was great to catch up briefly with the Franscioni boys, Adam and Nick and taste through a few of the new releases of their family’s Roar wines, one of the Santa Lucia Highlands region’s royalty estates and some of the nicest down to earth people you can meet. Roar, as noted here in my prior reviews, was founded by the Francsioni family and one of the famous Garys, Gary Francsioni, after the release of their 2000 vintage, and who are best known for Pinot Noir, though also do a fine selection of Chardonnay snd Rhônes, including Syrah, Viognier and even a micro batch of Grenache. The Roar winery, with Gary and sons Adam and Nick, say the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA, in Monterey County, benefits from a rare combination of abundant sunshine and a powerful cooling influence from the Monterey Bay’s deep submarine canyon, which holds a tremendous amount of cold water. The daily afternoon winds, reaching up to 25 mph, hence the name Roar, slow down ripening, enhance phenolic development, and create wines with exceptional depth, balance, and aging potential, as I’ve witnessed over the years. Winemaker Scott Shapley has done a fantastic job here over the last decade and this latest set continues his successful run at Roar, with these 2024s being equal to his best to date. Rosella’s Vineyard is the first property we planted to vine, and is the northernmost of Roar’s vineyards. Planted in 1996, it wraps around the family home and is named for Rosella, Gary’s wife. For the 2024 Syrah, Roar used 53% whole cluster and aged it close to 14 months in 100% French oak barrels, with about 40% new, all of which feels just right for a wine of this stature and substance. Roar only produced 123 cases of the Rosella’s Syrah, so don’t procrastinate too long or it will be gone! The Roar fall releases, available now on the mailing list includes some incredible stuff, which I got a sneak preview of, so it is a good time to join their offer list.
($60 Est.) 96 Points, grapelive