Ahoy! This is Stew from Kendric Vineyards. Iām still trying to beat this harvest into submission and am pressing grapes today, but Iāll try to check in periodically in case there are any questions I might be able to field.
I poured this wine last week for a bunch of importers from the UK, and it drew admiring Oohs and Aahs and references to Cote Rotie. I might not ordinarily place much stock in such comparisons, but something about its delivery with a British accent made me entertain the notion that I might be onto something here.
@KendricPN Hi Stew! Great job on this Syrah! Something about that Brit accent certainly does increase the perceived reliability of the commentary. Maybe Iāll read the rattages on this site with that accent in my head from now on.
@KendricPN Keep up the good work Stew! Making honest quality enduring wines and keeping them accessible. There are folks out here who truly appreciate art in a bottle. Cheers!
Iām set to pick this yearās syrah Wed night. And that will mark the end of the actual picking part of crush for me. Of course, itās not really over until everything gets tucked into barrels, but it means that the end starts to come into view. And Iām very ready to see the last berry move thru the winery, the pervasive stickiness start to diminish, the fruit flies start to die off and to sleep a couple consecutive nights in my own bed, rather than in the truck or on the winery couch. And to watch football. And to eat something other than drive-thru. Re-learn my kidsā names, etc. Normalcy looks pretty good, from this vantage point.
@KendricPN
May you get some rest soon! Thank you for the hard work! Looking forward to trying this wine. In for a case! Really enjoyed your Sangiovese I purchased here a while back. Thank you for the opportunity! Guess I need to try your PN as well! Cheers!
2017 Syrah by Kendric Vineyards.
Nose is restrained with subtle notes of minerality, caramel/marshmallow and when it sits for a while a faint leather. Big, moderately acidic body exhibits good structure and minerality. The finish is where this wine hints at its youth. While the body makes a buttery transition to the finish, young tannic exuberance takes over and dominates the experience with a lasting grip well after the finish.
This wine indroduces itself as more mature than its vintage says otherwise. However the finish gives its youth away. Itās an interesting wine with good potential. Based on the price it could be a good bargain. Itās drinking well now but I suspect with a few more years it will be quite the pleaser.
I especially like that this wine is 13.7% ABV. In a time where all of California seems to have lost their minds with high ABV wines, this is refreshing. It renders it approachable. I opened it this afternoon and slowly sipped half of it. Then later this evening I followed up with to see how it progressed. It developed some pleasant fruit and caramel notes and is even more balanced.
Itās a good honest quality wine. You canāt go wrong with it. Get a case, enjoy half now and the other half over the next few years. Cheers!
I really like a good Syrah. That dark magical purple liquid with its rich scent. It is almost like the wineās aroma is making a pinky swear that youāll love the taste, too. So, did this Syrah keeps its promise? Read on to find out! (but yes it did, this wine tells no lies)
2017 Syrah
Color: Deep Ruby
Primary Aromas: Black Cherry, Plum, Violets
Secondary Aroma: Buttery Pancakes
Tertiary Aromas: Vanilla, Burnt Sugar, Hint of Chocolate
Taste: Ripe Cherry, Plum, Butterscotch, Juicy Fruit
Iāll get right to it, this is a nice Syrah, very nice in my opinion. For being a 2017, it already has a little depth, but I would wager this could stay in the bottle for a few more years and be quite the great bottle of wine. I thoroughly enjoyed it as it is, so I may need to get a case, some for now and some for around 2022?
After letting it breathe for an hour, I had some on its own and tasted a juicy ripe cherry and plum flavor up front. Itās dry like a syrah should be, with this caramel-like sweetness in the background that reminded me of butterscotch. The aftertaste a couple minutes later was a lot like plum fruit, I could taste both the skin and the juice. It was tricking my tastebuds and had me almost believing I had eaten a plum a little while prior.
Then it was time to taste it with food, which tonight was an Italian seasoned meatloaf and some creamed spinach infused with caramelized onion. Wow. The Syrah almost completely changed from juicy fruits over to a rich caramelized fruit pie, with the onions from the creamed spinach reawakening on my taste buds and making it a truly savory experience. It is not often that I have had a wine present such different flavor profiles with and without food, so mark this one down as something you can experiment with all sorts of dishes to see how they play together.
As you can tell, I thoroughly enjoyed this Syrah, and I must congratulate Kendric Vineyards and Stewart Johnson on a job well done. I see on their website that this is the first Syrah from their Marin vineyard and I certainly hope it isnāt the last. I seriously do not need any more wine in the house right now, but this Syrah really has me trying to figure out where I would put it. I had decided $15 or less per bottle was how I would make the call, so I guess I know what the decision isā¦
Stew does good things.
detailed-organized-carbon
bottles available for those in SoCal
$23.32/btl per case lot direct, plus shipping.
Well done @winedavid49
Well, I grew up in Marin County. I like Syrah, but mostly Washington State syrah. But really want to try this and support the effort.
/giphy paranoid-fuchsia-judge
I didnāt realize Petaluma Gap was a new AVA finalized Dec 2017. Thatās why I never heard about it. (moved South to Silicon Valley first, then North to the great PNW). But I loved those West Marin roads and scenery.
@klezman Thanks; actually I discovered that tip accidentally on a previous discussion. I thought I could edit my text to make a comment about the giphy below, and to my surprise, the giphy changed so my comment on it was no longer valid. I didnāt know about the 5-minute rule, though.
Actually my feeling on these order giphys is the same as opening an older bottle of wine. Once itās there you have to accept it for what it is even if it wasnāt what you expected.
Also a big Kendrick Pinot fan. And 125 cases? Sold. Iām overflowing (a relative term, I know!) but whatās a few more?
/giphy miraculously-eternal-music
@PatrickKarcher John does tend to take a pretty expansive view on drinking windows, doesnāt he? Honestly, I canāt even begin to formulate an opinion on that topic. I donāt think Iāve ever had a 35 year old wine, let alone followed the evolution of a wine over that sort of period.
I think the usable takeaway from those sorts of projections may go more to indicate a wineās structure and style. Wines built on significant tannin and frames get longer windows than do softer ones. Wines that are all about primary fruit flavors tend toward nearer-term windows than those featuring more secondary flavors ā earth, spice, savory notes ā that tend to endure/improve. I guess there is also the writerās gut feeling about the wineās depth and the likelihood that there is more lurking under the surface that is apt to emerge over time. Thatās how I tend to interpret drinking window guidelines since I tend to receive long ones and it comports with my aspirations for my wines. In any case, I donāt take it so literally that Iām marking drinking windows on my calendar.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2017 Kendric Vineyards Syrah - $25 = 12.81%
2017 Kendric Vineyards Syrah, Petaluma Gap, Marin County
Tasting Notes
The 2017 Syrah āPetaluma Gapā from Kendric Vineyards is one of the most elegant examples of this varietal that I have tasted in years and years from California. The wines comes in at a classic 13.7 percent alcohol and offers up a pure and precise bouquet of cassis, black raspberries, pepper, black olive, smoked meats and a lovely base of soil tones. On the palate the wine is svelte, full-bodied and beautifully balanced, with a good core, fine-grained tannins and excellent length and grip on the light on its feet and complex finish. This is not a powerful example of syrah, but rather one of excellent complexity, intensity of flavor and budding complexity. First class juice! 2023-2055+. 92+."
-John Gilmanās āView from the Cellarā
Vintage and Winemakerās Notes
This is my first vintage of syrah from my Marin vineyard. Itās a pretty cool site for syrah, and Iām hoping that shows through. This comes from a small portion of my vineyard grafted to syrah in 2016.
Winery: Kendric Vineyards
Owner: Stewart Johnson
Founded: 2001
Location: Marin, CA
Stewart Johnson farms the Kendric Johnson Vineyard on leased land at the boundary of the Marin County and Sonoma Coast appellations 8 miles west of the Pacific Coast. This 8.5-acre vineyard was planted in 2002 to clones 37, 115, 667, 777, 828, Pommard, and Martini. Yields are extremely low at this very cool site. Stewart graduated from University of California at Berkeley, obtained a doctorate in political science from Yale, and graduated with a law degree from Hastings. While interning at the Environmental Protection Agency, he was drawn to winegrowing and winemaking rather than being confined to an office practicing law. With his wife, who is a Marin native, he discovered the pastoral beauty of Marin County and ended up growing grapes there.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Hey NE OH. I still have internet here in Uganda so I can see this offering. Iād take a few if someone wants to make the purchase. @chipgreen@boatman72@pjmartin
@mrn1 Iām in Boston and Iām siiting this out!! I have a lot of Wellington and other Syrah to drink up! @mrn1ā¦Ugandaā¦did you get highjacked or are you hiding from your wife for buying more wine?
Ahoy! This is Stew from Kendric Vineyards. Iām still trying to beat this harvest into submission and am pressing grapes today, but Iāll try to check in periodically in case there are any questions I might be able to field.
I poured this wine last week for a bunch of importers from the UK, and it drew admiring Oohs and Aahs and references to Cote Rotie. I might not ordinarily place much stock in such comparisons, but something about its delivery with a British accent made me entertain the notion that I might be onto something here.
@KendricPN Hi Stew! Great job on this Syrah! Something about that Brit accent certainly does increase the perceived reliability of the commentary. Maybe Iāll read the rattages on this site with that accent in my head from now on.
@KendricPN Keep up the good work Stew! Making honest quality enduring wines and keeping them accessible. There are folks out here who truly appreciate art in a bottle. Cheers!
@KendricPN Nice audio note.
Thanks for hanging out with us, and supporting WD so we can consume your juice.
@KendricPN @rjquillin ā¦āa blind man groping an elephantā¦ā Thatās Gold!
Iām set to pick this yearās syrah Wed night. And that will mark the end of the actual picking part of crush for me. Of course, itās not really over until everything gets tucked into barrels, but it means that the end starts to come into view. And Iām very ready to see the last berry move thru the winery, the pervasive stickiness start to diminish, the fruit flies start to die off and to sleep a couple consecutive nights in my own bed, rather than in the truck or on the winery couch. And to watch football. And to eat something other than drive-thru. Re-learn my kidsā names, etc. Normalcy looks pretty good, from this vantage point.
@KendricPN
May you get some rest soon! Thank you for the hard work! Looking forward to trying this wine. In for a case! Really enjoyed your Sangiovese I purchased here a while back. Thank you for the opportunity! Guess I need to try your PN as well! Cheers!
Todayās Rattage
2017 Syrah by Kendric Vineyards.
Nose is restrained with subtle notes of minerality, caramel/marshmallow and when it sits for a while a faint leather. Big, moderately acidic body exhibits good structure and minerality. The finish is where this wine hints at its youth. While the body makes a buttery transition to the finish, young tannic exuberance takes over and dominates the experience with a lasting grip well after the finish.
This wine indroduces itself as more mature than its vintage says otherwise. However the finish gives its youth away. Itās an interesting wine with good potential. Based on the price it could be a good bargain. Itās drinking well now but I suspect with a few more years it will be quite the pleaser.
I especially like that this wine is 13.7% ABV. In a time where all of California seems to have lost their minds with high ABV wines, this is refreshing. It renders it approachable. I opened it this afternoon and slowly sipped half of it. Then later this evening I followed up with to see how it progressed. It developed some pleasant fruit and caramel notes and is even more balanced.
Itās a good honest quality wine. You canāt go wrong with it. Get a case, enjoy half now and the other half over the next few years. Cheers!
@winesnob nice notes!
@CorTot thanks buddy. My pleasure. Cheers!
I really like a good Syrah. That dark magical purple liquid with its rich scent. It is almost like the wineās aroma is making a pinky swear that youāll love the taste, too. So, did this Syrah keeps its promise? Read on to find out! (but yes it did, this wine tells no lies)
2017 Syrah
Color: Deep Ruby
Primary Aromas: Black Cherry, Plum, Violets
Secondary Aroma: Buttery Pancakes
Tertiary Aromas: Vanilla, Burnt Sugar, Hint of Chocolate
Taste: Ripe Cherry, Plum, Butterscotch, Juicy Fruit
Iāll get right to it, this is a nice Syrah, very nice in my opinion. For being a 2017, it already has a little depth, but I would wager this could stay in the bottle for a few more years and be quite the great bottle of wine. I thoroughly enjoyed it as it is, so I may need to get a case, some for now and some for around 2022?
After letting it breathe for an hour, I had some on its own and tasted a juicy ripe cherry and plum flavor up front. Itās dry like a syrah should be, with this caramel-like sweetness in the background that reminded me of butterscotch. The aftertaste a couple minutes later was a lot like plum fruit, I could taste both the skin and the juice. It was tricking my tastebuds and had me almost believing I had eaten a plum a little while prior.
Then it was time to taste it with food, which tonight was an Italian seasoned meatloaf and some creamed spinach infused with caramelized onion. Wow. The Syrah almost completely changed from juicy fruits over to a rich caramelized fruit pie, with the onions from the creamed spinach reawakening on my taste buds and making it a truly savory experience. It is not often that I have had a wine present such different flavor profiles with and without food, so mark this one down as something you can experiment with all sorts of dishes to see how they play together.
As you can tell, I thoroughly enjoyed this Syrah, and I must congratulate Kendric Vineyards and Stewart Johnson on a job well done. I see on their website that this is the first Syrah from their Marin vineyard and I certainly hope it isnāt the last. I seriously do not need any more wine in the house right now, but this Syrah really has me trying to figure out where I would put it. I had decided $15 or less per bottle was how I would make the call, so I guess I know what the decision isā¦
Stew does good things.
detailed-organized-carbon
bottles available for those in SoCal
$23.32/btl per case lot direct, plus shipping.
Well done @winedavid49
@rjquillin Iāll take some off your hands. I love syrah. Three or four?
@radiolysis ss updated, 4 allocated.
Anyone else?
@rjquillin I would be interested in 4, or whatās left.
Well, I grew up in Marin County. I like Syrah, but mostly Washington State syrah. But really want to try this and support the effort.
/giphy paranoid-fuchsia-judge
Sorry 'bout that image, kind-of disturbing. āWhat, me, paranoid? No, you? No. what are you looking at?ā Itās whatever giphy gives us.
Here, have some wine, it will help you relaxā¦ on second thought, no, maybe better not.
So, back to the wine, 125 cases produced means about 5 barrels? I love small-production stuff.
I didnāt realize Petaluma Gap was a new AVA finalized Dec 2017. Thatās why I never heard about it. (moved South to Silicon Valley first, then North to the great PNW). But I loved those West Marin roads and scenery.
https://www.sonomacounty.com/articles/petaluma-gap-wine-region-and-appellation
#71 on this Map
http://petalumagap.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Petaluma_Gap_Brochure_JUN16_Map_Only.pdf
@pmarin For the first five minutes you can click āeditā and then resubmit the comment. Youāll get a different giphy each time.
@klezman Thanks; actually I discovered that tip accidentally on a previous discussion. I thought I could edit my text to make a comment about the giphy below, and to my surprise, the giphy changed so my comment on it was no longer valid. I didnāt know about the 5-minute rule, though.
Actually my feeling on these order giphys is the same as opening an older bottle of wine. Once itās there you have to accept it for what it is even if it wasnāt what you expected.
Also a big Kendrick Pinot fan. And 125 cases? Sold. Iām overflowing (a relative term, I know!) but whatās a few more?
/giphy miraculously-eternal-music
Kendric Vineyards Syrah
4 bottles for $64.99 $16.25/bottle + $2/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $169.99 $14.17/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2017 Kendric Vineyards Syrah
Great rattage!
@Winedavid49 thanks buddy. Always happy to lay my body on the line.
/giphy immaculate-incidental-custard
@wmhatch Man, I guess I gotta exercise moreā¦
@KendricPN, what do you think of John Gilman suggesting this wine could last for over 35 years?
@PatrickKarcher John does tend to take a pretty expansive view on drinking windows, doesnāt he? Honestly, I canāt even begin to formulate an opinion on that topic. I donāt think Iāve ever had a 35 year old wine, let alone followed the evolution of a wine over that sort of period.
I think the usable takeaway from those sorts of projections may go more to indicate a wineās structure and style. Wines built on significant tannin and frames get longer windows than do softer ones. Wines that are all about primary fruit flavors tend toward nearer-term windows than those featuring more secondary flavors ā earth, spice, savory notes ā that tend to endure/improve. I guess there is also the writerās gut feeling about the wineās depth and the likelihood that there is more lurking under the surface that is apt to emerge over time. Thatās how I tend to interpret drinking window guidelines since I tend to receive long ones and it comports with my aspirations for my wines. In any case, I donāt take it so literally that Iām marking drinking windows on my calendar.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2017 Kendric Vineyards Syrah - $25 = 12.81%
How did this not sell out?
2017 Kendric Vineyards Syrah, Petaluma Gap, Marin County
Tasting Notes
The 2017 Syrah āPetaluma Gapā from Kendric Vineyards is one of the most elegant examples of this varietal that I have tasted in years and years from California. The wines comes in at a classic 13.7 percent alcohol and offers up a pure and precise bouquet of cassis, black raspberries, pepper, black olive, smoked meats and a lovely base of soil tones. On the palate the wine is svelte, full-bodied and beautifully balanced, with a good core, fine-grained tannins and excellent length and grip on the light on its feet and complex finish. This is not a powerful example of syrah, but rather one of excellent complexity, intensity of flavor and budding complexity. First class juice! 2023-2055+. 92+."
-John Gilmanās āView from the Cellarā
Vintage and Winemakerās Notes
This is my first vintage of syrah from my Marin vineyard. Itās a pretty cool site for syrah, and Iām hoping that shows through. This comes from a small portion of my vineyard grafted to syrah in 2016.
Specifications
Included in the Box
Case:
4-bottles:
Price Comparison
$310.32 at Kendric Vineyards
About The Winery
Winery: Kendric Vineyards
Owner: Stewart Johnson
Founded: 2001
Location: Marin, CA
Stewart Johnson farms the Kendric Johnson Vineyard on leased land at the boundary of the Marin County and Sonoma Coast appellations 8 miles west of the Pacific Coast. This 8.5-acre vineyard was planted in 2002 to clones 37, 115, 667, 777, 828, Pommard, and Martini. Yields are extremely low at this very cool site. Stewart graduated from University of California at Berkeley, obtained a doctorate in political science from Yale, and graduated with a law degree from Hastings. While interning at the Environmental Protection Agency, he was drawn to winegrowing and winemaking rather than being confined to an office practicing law. With his wife, who is a Marin native, he discovered the pastoral beauty of Marin County and ended up growing grapes there.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Thursday, November 7th - Monday, November 11th
Hey NE OH. I still have internet here in Uganda so I can see this offering. Iād take a few if someone wants to make the purchase. @chipgreen @boatman72 @pjmartin
@mrn1 @chipgreen @boatman72 @marikar
Who else in NEOH is interested?
@Boatman72 @chipgreen @mrn1 @pjmartin I can take a few. Let me know if/when I need to do the heavy lifting.
@mrn1 Iām in Boston and Iām siiting this out!! I have a lot of Wellington and other Syrah to drink up! @mrn1ā¦Ugandaā¦did you get highjacked or are you hiding from your wife for buying more wine?
@Boatman72 @marikar @mrn1 @pjmartin
I could be talked into a couple if it helps round out a case.
/giphy respectable-drifting-spark
@Boatman72 @chipgreen @marikar @mrn1 Thatās all I needed. Order in.
The Kendric pinot I got from Casemates last year was fantastic.
If any NOVA chums would like some of this (at case price), but need some help, Iād be in for 2-4 bottles.
@PatrickKarcher Iād take two (central MD here, w plans to attend bike races in NOV/DEC in VA) Reston and Haymarket are on our calendar.
@kls_in_MD Looks like not happening. Itās for the best. My wine budget is toast, and weād have to sit on these a bit. Canāt get 'em all.
Iāve had the opportunity to chat with Stew in the past. Seems like a really great guy. In for 4. Cheers.
Last minute orderā¦ in before the bell.
GREAT rattage today!