2003 Failla Phoenix Ranch Syrah

Failla is on the Sonoma Coast. It was founded in 1998 by the husband-and-wife team of Ehren Jordan and Anne-Marie Failla and it was known as Failla Jordan. Three years later they were legally required to change the name of their winery because of an already existing winery called Jordan Vineyards. Failla Jordan shortened their business name simply to Failla with the 2002 vintage. Winemaker Ehren Jordan worked in winemaking in the Rhone Valley and then became winemaker at Neyers Vineyards and Turley Wine Cellars. Failla makes primarily Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Robert M. Parker Jr. has generally rated Failla wines in the 90s, and notes that Ehren Jordan “continues to exhibit a French-inspired sensitivity to winemaking….Failla is an excellent source of elegant, flavor-filled, complex wines…”

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,

This grape is grown in milder climates and produces a medium-to full-bodied wine. It is also known as Shiraz, but should not be confused with Petit Sirah, which was developed by crossing Syrah with Peloursin.