The 2003 Syrah Melville Vineyard is one of Ojai’s more closed, structured 2003s. Although not yet strutting its full potential, it is an outstanding effort that will benefit from 2-3 more years of bottle age. Its deep blue/purple color is accompanied by notions of blueberries, charcoal, and crushed rocks. Meaty and rich as well as backward and tannic, it will be at its finest between 2008-2015. Adam Tolmach kindly conducted a mini-vertical, going back to 1995, of his Bien Nacido Vineyard Syrah, and it was good to see how well they all performed. My favorites included the 1996 (93 points), 1998 (91 points), 2000 (93 points), and 2002 (93 points). The only wine that did not show as well as I would have hoped was the 1997 (88 points), which was much lighter and on a faster evolutionary track.Tel. (805) 649-1674

The 2003 Syrah Melville Vineyard is one of Ojai’s more closed, structured 2003s. Although not yet strutting its full potential, it is an outstanding effort that will benefit from 2-3 more years of bottle age. Its deep blue/purple color is accompanied by notions of blueberries, charcoal, and crushed rocks. Meaty and rich as well as backward and tannic, it will be at its finest between 2008-2015. Adam Tolmach kindly conducted a mini-vertical, going back to 1995, of his Bien Nacido Vineyard Syrah, and it was good to see how well they all performed. My favorites included the 1996 (93 points), 1998 (91 points), 2000 (93 points), and 2002 (93 points). The only wine that did not show as well as I would have hoped was the 1997 (88 points), which was much lighter and on a faster evolutionary track. Tel. (805) 649-1674