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2006 Vintage

93 Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar May/June 09
Inky ruby. Mineral-driven aromas of cherry skin, blackcurrant, violet and smoked meat. The smoky note gains strength with air and blends with the fruit, giving this an exotic mezcal quality. Spicy dark berry flavors are sharply focused and framed by silky tannins. The floral note repeats on the finish, which is fresh, energetic and very long. Wild stuff, and already delicious.

93 Robert M. Parker Jr.'s The Wine Advocate December 2008
The Shanel Vineyard Syrah includes 3% Viognier, but it is less noticeable at this stage. An opaque purple color is followed by enormous quantities of blackberries intermixed with tapenade, acacia flowers, and truffles. Full-bodied, meaty, and dense, it cuts an even broader mouthfeel than its sibling. It, too, can be drunk over the next decade.

92 (two puffs) Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine, March 2009
Ripeness and sweet oak are in abundance here, yet whereas too many like-minded wines can claim the same gifts, Ramey's first-rate effort goes a bit further. It is solidly grounded in spicy Syrah fruit and is uncommonly complex with multi-layered flavors of berries, milk chocolate and black pepper. Not surprisingly, it is too tannic for drinking in the near term, but it has all the right stuff in all the right places to guarantee five to ten years of real expansion and growth.

93 Wine Spectator March 31, 2009
There's lots of spices white and black pepper but also plenty of grapey dark berry, red licorice, herb, mineral and cedar notes. Very complex, full-blown and well-balanced, becoming even more complex on the finish, where the flavors unfold to reveal subtle nuances. Drink now through 2015.

Four Stars + Ronn Wiegand’s Restaurant Wine, Issue # 128
A stylish, full flavored, well balanced Syrah, with fine balance and length. The wine is complex, not dissimilar in character to fine versions of Cote Rotie. It tastes of blackberry, clove, toast, raspberry, and spicy oak. Very long finish. [2010-2012]

90 California Grapevine, Vol. 35, No. 2, April-May 2009
Medium-dark ruby; attractive, forward, intense, spicy, cedary, earthy, plumy, blackberry fruit aroma with hints of milk chocolate and lavender; full body; big, dense, highly concentrated, very ripe blackberry fruit flavors with a creamy mouthfeel and some alcoholic heat and harshness on the finish; full tannin; lingering aftertaste. Shows some maturity. Very highly recommended.