Poetic Cellars

Long-time winemaker Katy Lovell has significant acreage in Livermore to tap from in making her wines, even though her brand new winery is located in Soquel, near the original winemaking belt off Jarvis Road known as Vine Hill. In the cellar, though, she has some very yummy wines from her Livermore stash. She owns many acres of vineyards in the Livermore Valley courtesy of a previous venture with ex-partner Max Rios, with whom she established and operated Rios-Lovell Winery. Katy has so many great red wine grapes to choose from, and this Syrah is one of them.

This Syrah is definitely Livermore: rich, sweet, ripe and very easy to drink. Picked at 27.3° Brix, with a PH of 3.57, this is a rich, rich wine, made all the richer by a heavy oak program of 14.5 months in barrel, 85% French and 15% American with approximately a third new. Sweet plush aromas of baked plum tart, spicy sausage, ham and baked Brie. Did I say rich? This wine has wonderful flavours of plum tart, baked chile peppers, and sundried tomatoes. It is quite weighty on the palate, and wants to be paired with something like a pepperoni, Italian sausage, Provolone cheese and Roma tomato pizza – with a generous oregano and basil topping. And maybe a bit of Parmigiano Reggiano. If you like your Syrah as big as you like your Petites, this one will please.

Reviewed June 10, 2008 by Laura Ness.