2019 Andremily Wines Syrah No. 8 Santa Barbara County

Another perfect wine from Jim Binns is the 2019 No 8, a blend of 88% Syrah, 9% Mourvèdre, and 3% Viognier. This full-bodied powerhouse of a wine has that rare mix of richness and elegance as well as a stunning array of red, blue, and black fruits along with notes of ground pepper, violets, and spring flowers. The balance is as good as it gets, it has ultra-fine tannins, and again, a mix of power and finesse that's something to behold. It's unquestionably approachable today yet should benefit from a few years of bottle age and keep for 15+. Review Date: August 2022

The 2019 No. 8 is a blend of 88% Syrah, 9% Mourvèdre and 3% Viognier, made with 45% whole clusters. Fruit comes from several vineyards including White Hawk, Larner, Harrison-Clarke and Alta Mesa. It was matured for 22 months in 65% new French barriques and 35% used barriques. Opaque ruby-purple in color, it is bursting with pure scents of blueberry liqueur, black cherry jam, aniseed, coffee beans and soaring violet perfume. The full-bodied palate is powerful, with a firm frame of rounded tannins, gentle bursts of fresh acidity and a very long, very fragrant finish. This structured yet elegant Syrah offers loads of latent accents that hint at further development in bottle, and this will be very long-lived in the cellar. (EB) Review Date: May 2022