Are you ready for one of the best Santa Barbara reds you’ve ever tasted? Today’s Epiphany Cellars 2013 Camp Four Vineyard Santa Barbara County Syrah-Cabernet is the one!

This wine is made from grapes from the historic Camp 4 Vineyard on the eastern most edge of Santa Ynez Valley.

This wine is rich and full on the nose, with bountiful aromas of cassis, blackberry, black cherry, savory herbs, chocolate, smoked meat, spice box, toasty oak and black pepper.

Opulent and layered on the palate, with flavors of cassis, black cherry, smoked meat, licorice, savory herb, blackberry, braised plum, soft spice, darkly toasted oak, chocolate and black pepper.

The story of Camp 4 Vineyard begins with the late Fess Parker who, after purchasing the 1,400 acre property, planted 256 acres of grapes on the land. That was in 1999. In 2003, the vineyard produced its first successful grape harvest. The Camp 4 vineyard site was the historic 4th stagecoach stop on the passage from San Francisco to Yuma, Arizona.

The vineyard, which is situated on the eastern most edge of Santa Ynez Valley, is host to 19 varietals focusing on Rhone and Bordeaux grapes. The site provides an ideal microclimate for these varietals with a long growing season that supports maximum flavor development.

Please enjoy this wonderful wine with our heartiest recommendation.

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Here’s what the wine press has to say:

92 points - Jeb Dunnuck, Wine Advocate - “…the 2013 Syrah Cabernet (65% Syrah and 35% Cabernet) comes from the Camp Four Vineyard and spent 21 months in 40% new American oak and 40% new French oak. It offers serious notes of cassis, lead pencil, tobacco leaf and pepper to go with a full-bodied, ripe, rounded, downright sexy style on the palate. There’s enough tannin here to warrant another year in bottle, and it should have 10-15 years of overall longevity.”

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91 points - Antonio Galloni’s Vinous - “One of the best wines in this range from Epiphany, the 2013 Syrah-Cabernet Sauvignon is plump, juicy and forward, but with good underlying support and overall structure. Black cherries, spices, leather and a touch of new American and French oak flesh out in this tasty, super-expressive red.”

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Matt Kettman, Wine Enthusiast - “This blend of 65% Syrah and 35% Cabernet Sauvignon offers less showy aromas than similar counterparts, with blackberries, black pepper, light cedar and unsweetened licorice notes. The palate offers a graphite minerality laced through dark olallieberry fruit.”