2023 Brewer-Clifton Perilune Syrah Sta. Rita Hills 6pk 6x750ml

Brewer-Clifton has been farming the Sta. Rita Hills since 1995, when the founders first recognized what the region's cool climate and ancient sandy soils could deliver. Today the estate owns 60 acres across four vineyards—all 100% estate grown, all within the AVA that's become California's answer to the Northern Rhone's granite-driven Syrah.

Perilune Syrah is a swan song. The vineyard that gave birth to this wine will no longer produce fruit for Brewer-Clifton moving forward, making the 2023 vintage a final expression of a site the winery has farmed for nearly three decades. It's whole-cluster fermented to amplify the floral, white pepper, and herbal aromatics that define cool-climate California Syrah—then raised to preserve the tension and transparency the region does better than almost anywhere in the state.

Vinous scored it 95 points and called it "lights-out fabulous: clear, precise and expressively aromatic." The wine shows violets, cracked pepper, dark berry fruit, peppercorn, black cherry, and raspberry, with a decidedly savory, tea-like mouthfeel that provides architecture. Fleshy yet focused, with crushed rocks, cedar, lavender, and mint woven through the finish.

This is Sta. Rita Hills Syrah at the level that justifies the appellation's reputation for Pinot Noir—and proves what the region can do when the same discipline is applied to Rhone varieties. The kind of wine that makes you understand why collectors pay attention when Brewer-Clifton puts a label on the bottle.