2014 Marcel Dupont Les Gosses Vineyard Syrah

A beauty like this gives me everything I want in wine. Its fruit is carefully cultivated and vinified on a family estate. Its aromas and flavors speak the name of its grape and the earth of its region. It’s delicious. It’s complex. And it’s a spectacular value. This wine is the truth. And of course it begins with a story:

In 1976, Anne-Marie Liégeois left her life in the Champagne region of France for the State of Washington and her new husband, Tom Hedges. Eleven years later, Tom and Anne-Marie began an export negociant business called American Wine Trade, and they used the name Hedges Cellars to label a wine they sourced for a Swedish client. That was enough to get Tom and Anne-Marie into the wine business. They bought vineyards in 1989. They built their own winery in 1995. Today, Hedges Family epitomizes the modern wine estate. It culls the riches of the Red Mountain AVA using honest farm practices with time-honored winemaking techniques.

The Hedges Family Estate DLD Syrah is an homage to both the Dupont and Liégeois sides of Anne-Marie’s family, especially her maternal grandfather Marcel, a Chevalier du Tastevin and an all-around bon vivant. Made with fruit from the Les Gosses Vineyard, the Red Mountain Syrah is bold and rich, without sacrificing subtlety and finesse. It’s sweet and savory, fruity and smoky, with flavors of blueberry, rosemary, and shortbread. And its balance of flavors lingers. Its beauty persists. This is refined and worldly wine, with a distinct sense of place.

Lovely now, but worthy of aging for five or ten years. At our price, you’ll want as much of this true beauty as you can hold.