The Ojai Vineyard, Santa Barbara County, Stolpman Vineyard, Syrah 1996
2.0cm; faded label
Adam Tolmach, The Ojai Winemaker
There is something very interesting about this vineyard because each year, after fermentation and continuing until bottling, there is a hardness and minerality about the young wine that puts most people off. I remember the 1996 in barrel. I couldn’t get anyone who tasted it to admit that it was any good at all! And yet, after bottling, it blossomed into an indisputably wonderful wine. The same was true about the 1997 and now this 1999. I think this wine has a great sense of place derived from the shale soil that it is grown on. It gives a mineral quality to the wine that makes it difficult to assess when young, but it is that same mineral-ness that allows the wine to carry the dark, blueberry Stolpman fruit with flair and elegance.
95 Wine Advocate
This wine comes across as a classic Hermitage with less earth, but with the blackberry liqueur/creme de cassis-like trademarks. It boasts an opaque black/purple color, as well as an extraordinary nose of black fruits, blackberries, and cassis, full-bodied, awesomely concentrated flavors, gobs of glycerin, low acidity, and a 40+ second finish. This is a thrilling, thick, juicy, succulent, formidably-endowed Syrah that should age effortlessly. 08/1998
CellarTracker Member
This was a "Wow" wine - absolutely that perfect balance of fruit, soft and cottony tannins, a little bit of funk, and really round mature Syrah fruit. One of the better California Syrahs that I've ever tasted. If you can find this, buy it. This still is young and has many years to go and can be cellared for additional 10+ years. This threw a ton of sediment, so decanting is required. 7/11/2014
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