I’m venturing a little south today to Ventura County (no pun intended!). In 2019 we took a road trip with favorite relatives down to Ojai. We stayed in a lovely small boutique inn, went hiking, enjoyed the restaurants, museums and shops, and, of course, wine tasting was involved. Our favorite winery there was The Ojai Vineyard. Our experience in their tasting room was exceptional – from wines to staff engagement. We picked up some wines on that trip that were so good, we still aren’t opening them! Maybe this post will convince Mr. H to let me have another one!
I was in DC in August, so my wine class decided to meet in-person. They picked a theme of “Monterey and South of Monterey” wines. Our host was the one who first informed me of the “Rhone Rangers,” so I thought it would be appropriate to bring a Syrah for the class. Luckily for me, MacArthur Beverages was carrying a few of the Ojai Vineyard wines (still in stock, last I checked), including this Syrah. Not only that, Jeb Dunnuck rated this wine 93 points!
About The Ojai Vineyard from their https://www.ojaivineyard.com/: “The wines we make today are a culmination of four decades pursuing excellence with the fruit grown in our region. We believe that a history like ours is an asset only insofar as it is defined by evolution. Craft is not an overnight sensation; it is the step by step progress that only comes from intuition and experience.”
2016 Ojai Vineyard Syrah Rolling Ranch, Ventura County (Upper Ojai), 14% ABV, $50 (#487*) 98% Syrah, 2% Viognier
Winery Notes from Their Website: “It’s already been a thrill for us to taste this 2016 Syrah, which represents the first cool vintage since we’ve reworked our approach to extraction with this wine. Around 2012 we had reassessed our approach to Roll Ranch Syrah, wading into further use of stem inclusion to open up some its chewier tendencies. Wading then became a plunge into majority whole cluster fermentation and pumpovers in subsequent vintages.
“The 2016 vintage showed a partial rebound out of the drought. Yields came up from the paltry 2015 year but were still shy of average. Throughout even July and August the marine layer pushed well up into the Upper Ojai Valley where Roll Ranch sits, and those cool mornings provided a more gently ripened nature to this boisterous fruit.
“Stepping away from the plummy opacity that dominated this wine’s youth in years past, there’s some transparency into the finer, once slow to show aspects of Roll Ranch. There’s more room for the co-fermented Viognier to express itself, melding with the Syrah to express lavender chocolate, just torn Apricot, and rich seductive flavors of ripe cherry and muddled raspberry. What is lavish gets balanced by appealing dustiness and the earthy punctuation of dried herbs and nutmeg from the stems. It will continue to evolve a long while, but this Roll Ranch Syrah just rocks already—how nice is it to not have to wait ten years first?!” 22 months in French oak barrels, 27% new.
My Review: Dark ruby in the glass. Strangely minty. Dark plum and kalamata olive flavors. I was hoping for a richer, fruitier Syrah, but now that I see the winery’s notes, I recognize that was not their aim with this vintage. The winery has a cool aging guide for all its wines by varietal and vineyard on its website. Clearly, this wine was way too young to drink and required decanting. I would like to try it again. August 2021
You can buy Ojai Vineyard wines on their website or at their tasting room at 109 S Montgomery St, Ojai, CA 93023 daily 12-5 p.m. Reservations are required. You can find a link on their website!
*Refers to wines tasted while Sheltering in Place on Sharon’s personal Facebook group “Sharon’s Central Coast (Monterey) Wine Blog” – including non-Central Coast wines.
© Decanting Monterey 2023
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