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750ml
Bottle:
$32.94
12 bottles:
$32.28
• Farmed by Randy Peters, this vineyard outside of Sebastopol in western Sonoma County (Northern edge of the...
750ml
Bottle:
$54.72
12 bottles:
$53.63
Occidental Hills Syrah is a single-vineyard bottling from our 0.21 acre Syrah planting at English Hill Vineyard....
![Cep [by Peay] Syrah West Sonoma Coast 2020 750ml](https://www.saratogawine.com/files/images/cached_thumbs/78/784a443e8edbcedf7efd105d9c619bfe.jpg){kind=small}
750ml
Bottle:
$32.30
$34.00
• Certified Organic.
• 100% Syrah.
• 100% declassified barrels from Peay Vineyards (West Sonoma Coast).
•...
750ml
Bottle:
$17.94
$19.60
12 bottles:
$17.58
Our cool climate, estate grown Syrah offers generous aromas of black pepper, coffee and berry. On the palate, flavors...
750ml
Bottle:
$41.94
12 bottles:
$41.10
The 2022 Syrah Nellessen Vineyard is fabulous in the way it marries huge fruit density and more typical peppery, gamy...
750ml
Bottle:
$62.90
$64.00
The 2017 Syrah Rodgers Creek Vineyard is in a fine spot for drinking now and over the next few years. Blue-toned...
750ml
Bottle:
$39.93
$42.00
12 bottles:
$39.90
• 89% Syrah co-fermented with 11% Viognier.
• 50% Cole Creek Vineyard, 50% Rodgers Creek Vineyard.
• Very...
750ml
Bottle:
$31.90
$34.80
Graceful and refined, with elegantly layered plum and raspberry flavors that take on forest floor, lavender and spice...
Mavrodaphne Syrah Verdejo United States California Sonoma Coast
In the Archaea region, high in the Northern Peloponnese mountains, the predominant grape varietal grown is the prized Mavrodaphne. Meaning 'Black Laurel', the Mavrodaphne grapes have extremely dark skins, and ripen slowly under the Greek sunshine, helped by the mineral rich soils the vines thrive in. This grape varietal is mostly used to produce the opaque, inky fortified wine of the same name, which is popular all over Greece and elsewhere in the world. This fortified wine allows the grapes to really show off their complex and fascinating flavors, which range from a rich marzipan to flavors of bitter chocolate, sweet coffee, dried figs and prunes, as well as plenty of jammy fruit notes.
Mavrodaphne is produced in a traditional method which involves leaving the grape juice exposed to the sun in large vats, before having its fermentation halted by the addition of various distillates taken from previous successful vintages. This mixture contains plenty of residual sugar, which gives the end result its characteristic sticky sweetness, and also helps with the next fermentation process, which typically takes place in large underground cellars. The final product is a heady drink, absolutely bursting with unusual, rich and sweet flavors and carried in a dark and slightly viscous Port-like liquid.
Mavrodaphne grapes are also used for the production of still red wines, but are generally blended with varietals such as Agiorgitiko or imported grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon. Mavrodaphne grapes are excellent for mellowing more acidic varieties, and producing deliciously rounded wines, which have taken the international market by storm in recent decades.
Additional Information on Greek Wines
Greek Wines
Ancient Greek Wines – A Brief History of Wine in Greece
The Myth of Dionysus, Greek God of Wine
What is Retsina?
Known as Syrah in most countries around the world, and Shiraz in Australia and certain other regions of the New World, this grape varietal has proven over the centuries to be one of the most powerful and flavorful red wine grapes there is. It is now one of the planet's most widely grown grapes, and is a favorite with wineries as a result of its robustness and versatility. It isn't easy to identify many characteristics of this particular varietal, due to the fact that it is highly versatile and shows significant differences in flavor and character depending on the terroir it is grown in, and the climatic conditions of the region. However, Syrah is most widely associated with full bodied, strong and loud red wines, packed full of fruity and spicy flavors, held in a beautifully deep red liquid.
Of all the New World wine countries, perhaps the one which has demonstrated the most flair for producing high quality wines - using a combination of traditional and forward-thinking contemporary methods - has been the United States of America. For the past couple of centuries, the United States has set about transforming much of its suitable land into vast vineyards, capable of supporting a wide variety of world-class grape varietals which thrive on both the Atlantic and the Pacific coastlines. Of course, we immediately think of sun-drenched California in regards to American wines, with its enormous vineyards responsible for the New World's finest examples of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot based wines, but many other states have taken to viticulture in a big way, with impressive results. Oregon, Washington State and New York have all developed sophisticated and technologically advanced wine cultures of their own, and the output of U.S wineries is increasing each year as more and more people are converted to their produce.
California as a wine producing region has grown in size and importance considerably over the past couple of centuries, and today is the proud producer of more than ninety percent of the United States' wines. Indeed, if California was a country, it would be the fourth largest producer of wine in the world, with a vast range of vineyards covering almost half a million acres. The secret to California's success as a wine region has a lot to do with the high quality of its soils, and the fact that it has an extensive Pacific coastline which perfectly tempers the blazing sunshine it experiences all year round. The winds coming off the ocean cool the vines, and the natural valleys and mountainsides which make up most of the state's wine regions make for ideal areas in which to cultivate a variety of high quality grapes.