94 RP
2015 - 2025
I was blown away by the four Syrahs that Eric Sussman is producing. Absolutely stunning was the 2013 Syrah Cherry Camp, which comes from a high ridge in the Freestone Valley. This was a cherry orchard originally, but it’s been redone with vineyards. Kept unracked in oak for 21 months and bottled unfined and unfiltered, this wine is another Côte-Rôtie-like look-alike, but with much more floral notes, plenty of black cherry and blackcurrant fruit, and hints of licorice and Provençal herbs. It is rich, full-bodied, opulent, super-complex and stunning. Drink now-2025.
For more than a decade now, I’ve been super-impressed by wine-grower and proprietor Eric Sussman, the brains behind these beautiful wines of Radio-Coteau. Working in cool-climate, coastal vineyard sites in Sonoma and Anderson valleys, he is a great believer in natural winemaking, with indigenous yeast fermentation, low SO2 levels, and generally biodynamic or organic farming. All of his wines are bottled in-house, unfined and unfiltered. This is a great showing for his wines, as he transitions to entirely estate fruit. (Right now it’s about 50% of his production, but it’s moving toward 100%.) Tel. (707) 823-2578; www.radiocoteau.com