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Desire Lines, Griffin's Lair Syrah, 2018

Red Wine from California, United States
by Desire Lines
$39.99
Taxes and shipping calculated at checkout.
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Griffin's Lair is where Desire Lines began — the founding vineyard for the label, the first site Cody and Emily Rasmussen bought fruit from, back in 2015. The site sits in the Petaluma Gap, planted in 2000 to four Syrah clones on 3309C rootstock at a time when cold-climate Syrah here was a brave bet; Joan Griffin took over as her own vineyard manager in 2006 and moved the farming to non-certified organic, with no-till soils and compost teas feeding the life below ground. Cody's point about the place is that the cellar work is practically identical every year, so the vineyard writes each vintage's character into the bottle on its own. Here that means un-inoculated fermentation with 50% whole cluster and a submerged cap through the first half, pressed off just short of dryness, then 15 months in neutral large-format barrels — nothing added, nothing sanded down. The 2018 has the pliancy, sinewy heft and briny personality of the 2015 with a brightness and snap that recalls the 2016. This is cool-climate California Syrah in the neo-classical mode the Rasmussens are after: savory, structured and built to age.

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More about Desire Lines

Childhood sweethearts Cody and Emily Rasmussen met in Iowa, but their travels around the world would bring them to their fate in wine, with Italy sealing the deal. After being bitten by the wine bug, the pair uprooted and moved to Sonoma without ever having visited Northern California. It was here that Cody took his first job at at Balletto Vineyards where he cut his teeth with some of the industry’s best.

He then worked harvests at Patz & Hall in Sonoma and Craggy Range Winery in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, before becoming Bedrock Wine Co’s third employee in summer 2013. If you’ve been a loyal customer to the shop, you know that Bedrock remains a shop staple, some of the best and most undervalued wines in California, it’s no wonder that Cody would continue to make wines of such character and pedigree. They have a certain ability to be incredibly complex, yet simple to drink at the same time.

These are wines that express true Californian terroir at its best, with careful sourcing from careful vetting from Cody and Emily. A true testament to historical vineyards as well as expressing the potential of where the new California wines are headed.

Wine Details

  • Grape Variety

    Syrah

  • Vintage

    2018

  • Size

    750ml

  • Farming Practice

    Traditional

Flatiron's Take

From the Importer

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Tasting Notes & Food Pairings

Perfect Pairings

Grilled lamb chops with rosemary and anchovy, duck breast with black pepper and cherries, braised short ribs, merguez with lentils, or a mushroom-and-thyme tart.

Tasting Profile

Cherry, black tea and bacon fat on the nose, thrown into high relief by the submerged cap. Sinewy and briny, with a brightness and snap that keeps it lively.