2022 Keplinger Solitaire Syrah Truchard Vineyard Carneros 6pk 6x750ml

Helen Keplinger is one of California's most respected winemakers — a UC Davis-trained veteran who's built her career at the intersection of Old World restraint and New World terroir. Her Solitaire bottling isn't a broad appellation blend. It's a single north-facing, rocky volcanic block near the top of Truchard Vineyard in Carneros — 40-year-old vines of the heritage Estrella clone, planted on a site Tony and Jo Ann Truchard bought nearly fifty years ago from a hermit living in a trailer. The kind of vineyard that doesn't exist anymore unless someone held onto it.

Carneros Syrah is a different animal than Paso or Santa Barbara. The cool, wind-scrubbed southern end of Napa pushes elegance over power — less jam, more structure, more of the savory complexity that makes you think Cote Rotie. Keplinger leans into that. She farms head-trained old vines with minimal intervention, raises the wine in 40% new larger-format barrels, and lets the site speak.

The 2022 shows classic northern Rhone aromatics — red and black berries, spring flowers, bacon fat, violets — then turns round and silky on the palate. Jeb Dunnuck calls it "a hidden gem in the vintage," noting it'll cellar a decade but drinks beautifully now. Antonio Galloni clocks the textural depth and the gravitas: black olive, scorched earth, clove, licorice. Both scored it 94-95 points. This is Syrah for people who think California Syrah is one-dimensional.

It's 100% varietal, raised with restraint, from a site and a winemaker that matter. The kind of bottle that makes you rethink what California can do when the right person is holding the right fruit.