The 2012 Rhys Syrah from the Horseshoe Vineyard is a bit less ripe in personality than the 2012 Skyline Vineyard version (please see below), coming in at an even thirteen percent octane and offering up simply stunning aromatic and flavor purity. The very complex bouquet smells like a Gérard Chave wine from the 1980s, soaring from the glass in a precise and classy constellation of cassis, black raspberries, roasted meats, raw cocoa, black olive, stony soil tones, a touch of medicinal young syrah, new leather, cedar and just a whisper of lavender in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and brilliantly soil-driven, with a fine core, flawless focus and balance, ripe, chewy tannins and a very long, very complex and soil-driven finish. This is a puppy and will need at least eight to ten years to really come into its own, but it should prove to be a serious long-distance runner and a reference point example of just what is possible with this grape in a properly stony terroir, coupled with impeccable winemaking. Stunning young Syrah! 95+