The famous McCrea Cuvee Orleans came from this vineyard, and the 2022 Syrah Motor City Kitty continues the site’s reputation for greatness, offering a ripe style and lots of wood, but showing something very special in its spicy, meaty, herbal complexion, memorable particularly for its sense of purity and balance. Made in a dense, brooding, full-bodied style, it spent time fermenting in concrete tank on its skins for 45 days before settling into 500-liter puncheon for 15 months on the lees. Dark fruit and spicy dried herbs accent the core of the wine, which will benefit from further aging, 10-12 years.
98 points, Virginie Boone, Jeb Dunnuck (Jul 2025)
This is an extremely complex, smoky, terroir-driven syrah that offers crushed wild berries and plum skins layered with hints of white pepper and cured meat. Broad, mouth-filling and full-bodied, it has a mineral, peppery edge and dusty, very fine tannins. Long and persistent, showing hints of crushed herbs and ashy soil in the end. Drink or hold.
98 points, James Suckling (Mar 2025)