2006 Holdredge Syrah - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

Great vibrant see-through color. The nose is a bit closed at first. After about an hour this really sings: There is warm bluberry pie, blood orange, wild flowers & black cherry. This really showed well/better with food. (Wild Boar sausages, wild mushroom couscous, black berry reduction). Fragrant and pretty beautiful, this belied its price-point by 2x. Palate has all the goodness and then some: Blueberry, white pepper, some bacon fat, soy and river stones. Great medium to light weight mouthfeel, it almost reminded me of Pinot early on, but by hour 1, there was no mistake. Great long finish. What really sellls this wine is the fragrance of the blood orange, blueberry & wild flowers. Very Northern Rhone-like indeed. What a great QPR. (91 pts.)