What a stunning little POS this is oh my god just brilliant beyond belief and the fact that this is an $18 bottle of supermarket plonk just adds to the appeal. I’ve been hard on hitching post pinots for decades but their syrah just hits on so many perfect levels. Here at 11:00 there’s relatively little tertiary, no brick, No fading of anything, just expanded nose and palate in one of the most textbook syrah ways I can imagine and find difficult to describe. A tiny bit of old world funk flows out of the nose on initial pour, smoothing instantly to a depth of structure and complex fruit I honestly don’t have words for. Sharp and brilliant late middle through finish with copious tannin still thriving underneath a bitter blackberry fruit. You need to buy all of this every year.

2012 @hitchingpost2 ‘Big Circle’ #syrah Santa Barbara Co. 14.7