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TOR, “Rogers La Herradura Vineyard” Syrah

California, United States 2014 (750mL)
$45.00
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TOR, “Rogers La Herradura Vineyard” Syrah

If your name is “Tor,” you’re sort of obliged to make powerful wines, right? You’re only an “h” away from being the God of Thunder, for crying out loud! But not to worry: Napa Valley legend Tor Kenward was happy to oblige with today’s dark and brooding Syrah.
Sourced from a hillside vineyard above St. Helena (next to Bond’s famous Quella vineyard) and flanked by Lake Hennessy to the south and Howell Mountain to the north, this wine wields a hammer but doesn’t bludgeon you with it—it’s more a clean-driven nail of powerful minerality and concentrated black fruit. Kenward has explored every inch of the Napa Valley over the course of a four-plus decade career in the wine business, and while single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is a calling card, today’s wine from the La Herradura Vineyard shows that Syrah from Napa has something to say, too. As someone who lives for classic expressions of Syrah, I appreciate the way Tor’s 2014 captures the complex savory components that are such a key element of Syrah’s varietal character. This expression is a touch bigger and richer than most of its Old World counterparts, but there’s “big” and then there’s overblown: Many ambitious Napa reds are extracted and oaked to the point where they’re impressive yet somewhat indistinguishable. But today’s wine delivers vibrant energy, genuine Syrah identity, and robust power—similar to the cult wines of Sine Qua Non. It really works, and I’d bank on it aging well, too. The price-to-quality here is off the charts, so don’t miss it!
Working side-by-side with winemaker Jeff Ames, Kenward says they share a simple rule: To showcase the vineyard, not a “heavy winemaker’s hand.” This is a philosophy he’s embraced over more than 40 years in the wine business, during which time he enjoyed the mentorship of luminaries like Robert Mondavi and André Tchelistcheff. He spent 27 years at Beringer on the business side but was known to make a few barrels for himself from some of their top vineyards; after he left Beringer, he and his wife, Susan, founded Tor Kenward Family Wines in 2001. And while his labels may indeed have his distinctive first name in ALL CAPS on the label, his principal aim is to showcase great vineyard sites. He and Ames both talk a lot about walking vineyards and the feeling of being in a special place. As Kenward notes in his online bio, “Beringer also sent me to travel and walk Europe’s most renowned vineyards, talk and taste with other winemakers, taste more, kick the dirt where world-class wines are grown, and listen.”

The vineyard showcased in today’s wine is called La Herradura, a ranch owned by the Rogers family in the foothills of the Vaca Range above St. Helena. The vines are rooted in steep slopes of gravel, clay, and basalt rock along Conn Creek, which was dammed up in 1948 to create Lake Hennessey, and the vineyard is planted to an “Alban” clone of Syrah, propagated from Côte-Rôtie cuttings by legendary Edna Valley viticulturist and “Rhône Ranger” John Alban. As said above, the vineyard is next to Bond’s “Quella” vineyard, one of the top-performing sites in Napa, and, given the fruit prices of Cabernet Sauvignon, the Syrah vines have since been grafted over—sadly, we won’t be seeing future editions of this wine.

The 2014 was fermented in open-topped vats using only native yeasts and was bottled unfined and unfiltered after spending 18 months in 80% new François Frères barrels and another 18 months in bottle before release. It’s had some time to integrate but is still showing lots of raw, youthful power: In the glass, it’s an opaque dark purple with a luscious “black and blue” fruit component on the nose and palate. Aromas of black raspberry, blueberry compote, mulberry, violets, tar, cacao, black olives, and licorice carry over to the dense, full-bodied palate. The tannins are ripe and silty and there’s tremendous freshness keeping the wine lifted and focused—there’s a well-toned muscularity to it, not just sheer mass, which is a huge plus. A “big” wine that is also a pleasure to drink is not the easiest thing to pull off, but the TOR team did it here: Decant it 30-60 minutes before enjoying in Bordeaux stems at 60-65 degrees and pair it with something suitably bold. For me, lamb always seems to be the go-to protein for great Syrah; the attached recipe for braised lamb shanks feels custom-made for this bottle. Enjoy!
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Country
United States
Region
California
Sub-Region
United StatesNapa Valley—Conn Valley Foothills
Soil
Clay, Gravel, Basalt Rock
Farming
Sustainable
Blend
Syrah 100%
Alcohol
14.7
OAK
80% New French
TEMP.
60-65
Glassware
Bordeaux Stems
Drinking
Now-2030
Decanting
30-60 Minutes
Pairing
Braised Lamb Shanks

United States

Washington

Columbia Valley

Like many Washington wines, the “Columbia Valley” indication only tells part of the story: Columbia Valley covers a huge swath of Central
Washington, within which are a wide array of smaller AVAs (appellations).

Oregon

Willamette Valley

Oregon’s Willamette Valley has become an elite winegrowing zone in record time. Pioneering vintner David Lett, of The Eyrie Vineyard, planted the first Pinot Noir in the region in 1965, soon to be followed by a cadre of forward-thinking growers who (correctly) saw their wines as America’s answer to French
Burgundies. Today, the Willamette
Valley is indeed compared favorably to Burgundy, Pinot Noir’s spiritual home. And while Pinot Noir accounts for 64% of Oregon’s vineyard plantings, there are cool-climate whites that must not be missed.

California

Santa Barbara

Among the unique features of Santa Barbara County appellations like Ballard Canyon (a sub-zone of the Santa Ynez Valley AVA), is that it has a cool, Pacific-influenced climate juxtaposed with the intense luminosity of a southerly
latitude (the 34th parallel). Ballard Canyon has a more north-south orientation compared to most Santa Barbara AVAs, with soils of sandy
clay/loam and limestone.

California

Paso Robles

Situated at an elevation of 1,600 feet, it is rooted in soils of sandy loam and falls within the Highlands District of the Paso Robles AVA.

New York

North Fork

Wine growers and producers on Long Island’s North Fork have traditionally compared their terroir to that of Bordeaux and have focused on French varieties such as Cabernet Franc and Merlot.

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