2015 - Gramercy Cellars, John Lewis Syrah

The 2015 Syrah John Lewis is the most youthfully reserved but also the most incipiently complex of these offerings from Gramercy Cellars, unfurling in the glass with notes of violets, potpourri, sweet black fruits, tapenade and Egyptian musk. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, multidimensional and complete, with excellent concentration, bright balancing acids and fine-grained but youthfully chewy tannins. This will need 5 or 6 years in the cellar and continue to develop for 15 years thereafter.

(fermented in concrete tank with 100% whole clusters, then aged in old puncheons): Full ruby-red. Deep aromas of black raspberry, blueberry and olive tapenade reminded me of a darker Côte-Rôtie. Then surprisingly tight in the middle but with a faint sweetness to its ripe purple fruit flavors. This is considerably more closed today than the Deuce but may well ultimately surpass that wine.