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SKU 980221
$219.94/bottle
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This is the first vintage from Saxum’s new estate vineyard in San Luis Obispo on Cayucas Ridge. This 2021 Cayucos Ridge Vineyard is 100% Syrah. The nose really stands out as unique from Saxum’s Paso Robles wines, offering beautifully cooler climate black pepper and baking spice aromas plus hints of violets, dried Provence herbs, and damp soil, opening out to a core of kirsch, red currant jelly, and underbrush. The full-bodied palate is so tightly wound with intense red and black fruit layers and great tension, framed by beautifully ripe, rounded tannins. It delivers loads of exciting mineral sparks, finishing with incredible length and depth. It’s so very cerebral; you want to curl up in an armchair with it and watch it develop like a great novel.
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.
Country
United States
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.
Region
California
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.
Appellation
San Luis Obispo
TWI97pts
The Wine Independent
This is the first vintage from Saxum’s new estate vineyard in San Luis Obispo on Cayucas Ridge. This 2021 Cayucos Ridge Vineyard is 100% Syrah. The nose really stands out as unique from Saxum’s Paso Robles wines, offering beautifully cooler climate black pepper and baking spice aromas plus hints of violets, dried Provence herbs, and damp soil, opening out to a core of kirsch, red currant jelly, and underbrush. The full-bodied palate is so tightly wound with intense red and black fruit layers and great tension, framed by beautifully ripe, rounded tannins. It delivers loads of exciting mineral sparks, finishing with incredible length and depth. It’s so very cerebral; you want to curl up in an armchair with it and watch it develop like a great novel.
VM96pts
Vinous Media
#30 in Top 100, 2025. The 2021 Syrah Cayucos Ridge Vineyard opens with a spice-laden bouquet of dusty lavender, white pepper, incense, cardamom and crushed blackberries. Cool-toned and graceful yet deep, it presents a silken wave of ripe wild berry fruits complicated by minerals and a dusting of cocoa. The finish is dramatically long, mixing dark chocolate with grippy tannins perfectly offset by a bump of residual acidity. This inaugural vintage of the Syrah Cayucos Ridge Vineyard is already a total rock star. It is a varietal Syrah from Saxum’s newest vineyard on York Mountain.
WE96pts
Wine Enthusiast
#63 in Top 100 Cellar Selections, 2025. From one of this winery's newer vineyards on the coastal slopes west of Paso Robles, this wine is incredibly dark and rich in the glass, offering black tea, cola and caramelized blueberry aromas on the nose. The palate's mocha, fudge, purple flower and peppercorn flavors lead into a nutty finish. Drink now-2035. (Cellar Selection)
JD96pts
Jeb Dunnuck
Not yet bottled and coming from Smith’s new Cayucos Ridge Vineyard located west of Paso Robles, within sight of the Pacific Ocean and at 1650 feet in elevation, the 2021 Cayucos Ridge is all Syrah from vines planted in 2018, aged mostly (all?) in barrel. This deep purple-hued beauty has a Cornas-like vibe in its peppery red and black fruits, game, wild herbs, and iron-like nuances. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it's structured, has lots of tannins, terrific balance, and a great finish. It's another singular wine in the lineup with tons of character. (94-96)
WA95pts
Wine Advocate
From a San Luis Obispo Coast site planted to own-rooted Syrah in 2017 just 4.5 miles from the Pacific, the 2021 Cayucos Ridge Vineyard is a trio of firsts: Saxum's first foray outside Paso Robles, the inaugural release from this vineyard and their first single-variety wine. Tasted as a finished blend just before bottling, the nose is exquisite, perfumed and alluring, with a level of poise and elegance altogether different from the rest of the Saxum roster. The texture is fresh and ethereal, with a wonderfully spry, lifted energy that carries through to the finish. The site's youth makes this stellar showing even more promising and offers a fascinating first look into a storied producer breaking ground in a region that is quickly gaining momentum. (93-95)
