2012 Syrah Clary Ranch

This wine was tasted over dinner at Redd Wood in Yountville, California.

Duncan Meyers and Nathan Roberts are unapologetic fans of high-acid, emphatically racy white wines but are leery of excessively sulfured whites "where anything subtle is beaten down by the SO2."When I visited their winery this spring one thing Duncan said about a particular chardonnay vineyard stood out:"you wouldn't want to live there."He was referring to the cold and windy climate that makes for a long growing season and necessitates late harvesting "at full phenolic maturity but with low Brix levels and good retention of natural acidity."Meyers and Roberts are such acid freaks that they've actually taken to roasting their own (excellent) coffee from green beans to a very light color because they find all of the commercially available coffees they've tried acid-deficient.Interestingly, their red wines, while also decidedly on the fresh side, can show real heft and fruit sweetness, but nothing that screams "New World" in any way.Yields were higher than usual in 2012, as might be expected, but the cool sites that work "never throw a large crop anyway, so a larger crop is a relative thing."

I was completely blown away with the wines I tasted at Arnot-Roberts. Duncan Meyers and Nathan Roberts operate out of a warehouse-turned winery just outside the Healdsburg town square. The setting is spartan but functional, with the feel of a vintage car shop. As for the wines, well, they are pretty amazing. In particular, this year I was struck with a number of wines from the Santa Cruz Mountains, which I continue to believe is the single most overlooked terroir in California. The Arnot-Roberts wines make an eloquent case for the greater recognition of these sites. Overall, the 2012 Pinots and Chardonnays show the open personality of the year. In 2011, Syrah is more successful than Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2013 Pinots I tasted are gorgeous. Higher acidity and smaller berries than 2012 give the wines a sense of energy and focus the prior vintage doesn't have. As always, Arnot-Roberts picks on the earlier side relative to some of their peers. There is no shortage of depth or flavor here, though. The wines are made with native fermentations, a high amount of whole clusters (often 100%), aged in neutral oak and bottled at about 10 months. Unfortunately I was not able to taste the Compagni Portis white, as it had just been racked. This year, there is an addition to the range, a Ribolla Gialla fermented in amphora sourced from Elisabetta Foradori in Trentino, Italy. Readers who can get on the Arnot-Roberts list should not hesitate. As someone who has the privilege to taste the benchmark wines of Italy, France, California and elsewhere on a regular basis, there is no doubt in my mind Arnot-Roberts is one of the world's great wineries. Arnot-Roberts now sources fruit from many appellations within the state. I have included all of their wines in this article for ease of reference.