Ledge, Bien Nacido Vineyard 'Block 11' Syrah, Santa Barbara, California, 2022

Overview of the Wine
Mark Adams, a West side Paso Robles native, grew up on the very ranch he now farms, and lives in his childhood home. Mom and Dad are in the house just across the meadow. Adams' parents bought the land - now called Adams Ranch Vineyards - in the mid-'70s, to raise cattle and grow the occasional grain crop. It wasn't until 2005 that the first grapes were planted.

Heading back to Paso might always have been in the back of Adams' mind, but he started out on a very different path. An Americana musician, he was living in Los Angeles and working as a sound effects editor at Sony when the opportunity arose to farm his parents' land. To get some experience, he turned to childhood pal Justin Smith, a well-respected winemaker and vineyard consultant, who gave him a job working at Saxum and its James Berry Vineyard just a mile from his land.

In 2005, Adams, his wife, Ciera, and a bunch of college friends collected cuttings and planted them on their own roots on his parents' land - mostly sand and clay. The grapes were primarily Syrah, with just a touch of Grenache and Mourvedre.

"We had no certified rootstock; we didn't have a budget, crews or infrastructure," he recalls. "It was a wild, ill-advised ride for sure."

Fortunately, they lucked out with a winter deluge, and his 5 acres of planted land began to take off. Ultimately, Adams says he'd like to have about 35 acres in vine. Now in his third year of production, Adams recently released 150 cases of the 2011 Adams Ranch Vineyard Syrah. Two hundred cases of the 2012 will be bottled this year, and the 2013 vintage should double that.

Winemaker
Mark Adams

Grape / Blend
100% Syrah

Origin
Santa Barbara, California

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
From Santa Maria Valley’s famed Bien Nacido Vineyard, this is entirely Estrella clone Syrah from  Block 11, which sits atop at panoramic view of the San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara County line. This vineyard enjoys maritime soils and climate with the pacific ocean on the other side of the valley. Sandy loam, chalk, gravelly loam and marine loam

96 Points - Jeb Dunnuck
Blackberries, ground pepper, liquid violets, scorched earth, and graphite are just some of the nuances in the 2022 Syrah Block 11 Bien Nacido Vineyard, an incredibly textured, medium to full-bodied Syrah that has ultra-fine tannins and a pure, concentrated, incredibly multi-dimensional personality. It shows the more elegant, pretty style of the vintage (it would pass undetected in a lineup of Côte Rôtie) and is clearly up with the crème de la crème of the vintage. It should be snatched up by savvy readers and enjoyed over the coming decade. This cuvee is 100% Syrah that spent 20 months in 70% new French oak. There are a scant 250 cases produced. Going forward, Ledge will be getting more fruit from Bien Nacido, so you can expect the production to increase.

95 Points - Vinous
Classic to the core, the 2022 Syrah Bien Nacido Vineyard blossoms in the glass with an array of grilled herbs, ashen stones, musky blackcurrant and exotic spice. Pure elegance, it is silken and pliant, with ripe red and black fruit swirling across a core of bright acidity. The finish is potent in length yet only gently tannic, leaving a pleasantly bitter twang of dark chocolate under an air of sweet sage. 

 Product size: 750ml