2019 Syrah Susan's Hill

The Pisoni family needs no introduction to California wine lovers and neither do the outstanding Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs that many of the State’s best wineries have long been producing from their fruit. Gary Pisoni’s sons, Mark and Jeff are fully in charge here now, as grower and winemaker respectively. This is their own label, and it comprises a collection of wines that are made from estate fruit. Quality is consistently as high as at any other winery on the west coast. From the 2019 vintage, the Pisonis have made an especially strong set of wines built for aging, and at least as good as their superb 2018s. What is especially exciting, for me, is the rapid progress that Syrah is making here. These 2019s are in the upper tier of New World examples of the variety, and there is no shortage of great Syrah being made outside of the Rhône Valley these days. There’s nothing shy about any of the Lucia wines, but I have never found them to be over the top, either. They definitely lead with fruit, while the highest quality new oak is used liberally, but carefully, making the wine highly appealing early on. Regardless of variety, these are wines that are built to age and improve while doing so.