cropthreash

 

 

2005 SYRAH ROLL RANCH
Ojai Valley, California

Roll Ranch is a wine of many contradictions. Most warm climate syrah has a heavy, fruity sameness that can get tiresome, yet here we have a wine that is lively and has a unique personality. This is the direct result of two factors, site and farming. The vineyard, located in the Upper Ojai Valley, has an unusual climate for a protected southern Californian valley. At an elevation of about 1000 feet, it receives excesses of everything-heat during the day, cooling fog from the ocean at night, and some of the highest rainfall totals in the area. The soil, an alluvial decomposition of the local mountain of note, Topa Topa, is a red sandy loam that is extremely nutrient poor.

The vines either grow with excess vigor or a decided lack thereof depending on annual rainfall, which makes vineyard manager Martin Ramirez's job difficult, to say the least. 2005 was a huge rainfall year, so he had to go through the vineyard again and again trimming out excessively vigorous shoots and trimming clusters. The attention he paid to the vines has rewarded us once again with a terrific syrah.

This wine has an evocative and lively aroma of pine, sage and damp earth. There are sappy plum pit and cherry aromas as well, and no hint of overripe heaviness--which is not to say the wine is light, it isn't. It is savory and rich with a nice bittersweet chocolate aftertaste. The 2005 harvest gave us wines that are fresh and alive.