The 2018 Syrah Olsen Brothers Vineyard, from a site in Yakima Valley, is a mix of clones that were not destemmed, and it was brought up mostly in neutral oak. It's a classic Yakima Valley Syrah with its full-bodied, rich, meaty style as well as ample darker fruits and notes of smoked game, chocolate, tapenade, and spice. It reminds me of a great vintage of Jaboulet's Domaine de Thalabert and should keep for 15 years.

Bright dark red. Highly nuanced aromas of dark berries, licorice, chocolate, minerals, wet earth, black pepper and cured meats. Then quite primary, even tight, on the palate, showing lovely floral lift to the flavors of dark berries, spices, pepper and forest floor. This is lower in pH and less obviously sweet than the Gratitude blend. Leighton told me this Syrah fruit typically arrives late and spends less time on its skins than the Syrahs he makes under the K Vintners label, as he's seeking to capture freshness and focus and to make a more "demure, subtle" style. The very long, lightly medicinal finish is firmly tannic but not dry, as much savory as fruity, with a note of violet providing lift. I'd give this beauty a couple years in the cellar. (from a 2012 planting on a north-facing slope on volcanic soils at an altitude of 1,200 feet)