2022 Desire Lines Wine Co., Syrah, Shake Ridge Ranch, Amador County – Sierra Foothills.
The exotic and richly layered Desire Lines Shake Ridge Ranch Syrah is again a very serious effort, and as I’ve said before, it is in line with some top notch Northern Rhône bottlings, having real Hermitage and or Côte-Rotie like presence in the glass, but with velvety tannins not unlike the Jim Barry Armah Shiraz, making for a wine to enjoy now, but that has the stuffing to age decades! The 2022 is slightly riper than the last few vintages, but still impeccably balanced with a dense palate that shows off a quiet mineral intensity and plush black and blue fruits. Like the fabulous 2019, this latest release leads with an opaque purple/garnet hue in the glass with a consistent layering of boysenberry, damson plum, Italian cherry, Mission fig and blueberry compote filling the mouth, while hints of pepper, crushed stone, camphor, violets, anise, sandalwood, vanilla and mountain sage, again here, play nice backing roles. Tasting this Syrah, every time, makes me understand why it is one of the jewels in the Desire Lines lineup and one of winemaker Cody Rasmussen’s signature offerings! As I’ve said before, Those that love Chave, Chapoutier, Clape, Jamet and even Guigal will be blown away by the quality you’ll find here with this Shake Ridge bottling by Rasmussen at Desire Lines Wine Co., and the price is more than fair considering the limited nature of wines, especially this one.
Desire Lines Wine Co. makes some of the best California wines for the money I’ve tasted in recent years, with Rasmussen, who is also a winemaker at Morgan Twain-Peterson’s Bedrock Wine Co, being very much inspired by old world wines and techniques, like here he used plenty of whole-cluster, native yeasts and ages in larger used wood, preferring Puncheons of 400L and 500L (sizes) for his Syrahs and his Mourvèdre wines. The maceration, for the Shake Ridge Syrah, included lots of punch downs and full extraction that shows in the depth and intensity of flavors and the umami background with subtle briny/meaty notes adds to the thrills and wow factor here, in this beauty. The hot days and cold nights help ripen the Syrah here perfectly while the schist, Mariposa slate, greenstone, and even marble soils at Shake Ridge, all plays a part, along with sizable chunks of quartz that just litter the ground here adds to the terroir distention in the wine. The vines at Shake Ridge, as I noted in prior reviews, are planted in the once gold-rich soils that birthed the modern state of California, and are cared for by one of the finest farmers in California with the help of her whole family. Ann Kraemer, who is legend in her field, continues a long tradition of pioneering, scientifically-minded viticulturalists in Amador County, and she supplies grapes to some of California’s most exciting winemakers. If you’ve not had these Desire Lines wines yet, you are missing out and I highly recommend getting on their mailing list as soon as possible.
($36 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive