2006 Syrah

This sprawling property at the top of Spring Mountain, with 83 acres under vine, gained a stellar reputation for rich red wines with a mountain intensity under the guiding hand of winemaker Bob Foley, whose last vintage here was 2004. Sally Johnson took over winemaking duties in 2007, so this was my first look at wines she made from start to finish. According to Steve Pride, 2006 was a late season, with a "nearly ideal summer up here above the fogbank." The cabernet was picked during the second half of October and the beginning of November. But 2007 was a late vintage too, according to Pride. "Eighty percent of our fruit was still hanging on October 20. We had a good bit of rain in September and especially in the first three weeks of October, and we were saved by sun from late October through November 11." The result, Pride believes, is a set of classic, varietally accurate wines with concentrated berry flavors but softer tannins than the "superripe and expressive" 2006s. Winemaker Johnson noted that she has taken steps in the vineyard to get the estate's merlot blocks riper and that Pride is now picking with greater precision after having purchased a number of 500-gallon fermentation tanks in time for the 2007 harvest.