Super Sonoman
2008 Sonoma County Syrah
Syrah •Redwood Hill
California: Sonoma County
Mission Briefing
Holy Moly!
We first tasted Super Sonoman wines in 2012, and we were hooked. Winemaker Chris Taddei tasted us on his Cabs and his red blends and we just fell in love.
When Agent Red was offered the opportunity to taste Chris’ Super Sonoman 2008 Sonoma County Syrah, he jumped at the chance. Red loved this limited-production wine so much that he practically begged for a sizable allocation.
No need for you to beg, dear Operative! We have a goodly quantity on hand for you. This wonderfully delicious Syrah is a very well-structured wine that is a lovely Rhône meets California style of wine.
The grapes for today’s wine were hand picked and hand sorted; only the best of the best grapes were used from the single Mayacamas mountains vineyard source that bore them.
100 cases produced. 100% recommended!
Tasting Profile
| Look: | Deepest, darkest purple at the heart of the glass, nearly perfectly diffuse, with just a slight hint of ruby at the very edge. |
|---|---|
| Smell: | A lovely blend of fruit, earth, and floral notes, with fresh blackberry, raspberry, and boysonberry mingling with sweet tobacco leaf, espresso bean, lavender, and rose petals. |
| Taste: | Bold and powerful, with a dark fruit compote of blackberry, black cherry, and sweet plum laid overtop fresh berry bramble, aged cigar box, dark chocolate, black peppercorn, clove, and a touch of minerality. |
| Finish: | Long and lasting on the finish, well structured with plenty of velvety tannins. After giving it a chance to breath, you will be greeted with a delicious and very robust wine. |
| Pairing: | A roast leg of lamb, rubbed with garlic, rosemary, and sea salt. |
What the Winery Says
The 2008 Sryah is a combination of clones 174, 383, 470, and 877. The wine is dark Purple in color with a bright purple rim. The aromatics express perfumed aromas of ripe blackberry, black raspberry, coffee bean and wildflowers. The palate exhibits blackberry pie, plum, and black cherry juxtaposed with graphite, tobacco and a hint of wild game. The palate is huge with silky sweet tannins and a seemingly endless finish. This Syrah will only get better with age and will improve over the years to come.
93 Point Review - Wine Enthusiast This is delicious, right up there with a great Cabernet. First of all, there’s the smoothly tannic and velvety mouthfeel. Then there’s the flavors that are wildly attractive in blackberries, black licorice, crispy bacon and something purple and flowery, like violets. The grapes comes from a vineyard in the Mayacamas range that only qualifies for the county appellation. It’s expensive, yes, but it tastes expensive.
- Winemaker
- Chris Taddei
- Accolades
- 93 Points - Wine Enthusiast
- Appellation
- Sonoma County, California
- Vineyard
- Redwood Hill
- Cooperage
- 20 months in 100% new French oak
- ABV
- 15.0%
About the Winery
The diverse geology of Sonoma County and its topography have made it the ideal location to make world class wine for years but if you were looking for an elegant, age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignon however, the choice was easy, go to the Napa Valley. We bring you another choice, Super Sonoman Wine.
We discovered a series of micro vineyards on the slopes of the Mayacamas Mountains above the Russian River Valley, sitting at altitudes from 900 feet to 1500 feet above sea level. The vineyards are almost always out of the fog and reap the rewards of warm nurturing sunshine. It’s a place where the cool air of the ocean pours in at night during the ripening months of the summer, lending to exceptional hang time, thus aiding in the physiological development of well balanced, ripe fruit.
We have fulfilled our original vision through hard work and the desire to create a memorable wine experience that we hope you’ll share with family and friends for years to come.
Winemaker Chris Taddei
Winemaker Chris Taddei is making big waves in the wine world with his amazing artisanal wines. It began with his desire to make the best Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County has ever produced. The diverse geology of Sonoma County and its topography have made it the ideal location to make world class wine for years but the grapes that are most often associated with the region have been Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Zinfandel to name a few.
If you were looking for an elegant, age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignon however, the choice was easy, go to the Napa Valley. Chris is now bringing wine lovers another choice.
Chris’ wife, Dana Taddei, was instrumental in providing her husband’s first significant exposure to California wines. This was an important shift for Chris, an Old World enthusiast whose point of reference was firmly established early on through his exploration of French wines, in that it eventually provided the foundation for his enthusiasm and eventual advocacy for the industry in Sonoma. Upon discovering the quality of the fruit produced on its mountaintops, he set out on a mission to realize what he vehemently believes is the region’s capability to make world-class Bordeaux varietal wines.