Gramercy Cellars, Syrah

If you were to make a list of the best places in the world to make wine from the Syrah grape, Washington State would be near the top. With each new vintage, in fact, I’m tasting more and more Syrahs from appellations like Columbia Valley and Walla Walla that belong at the top of the top—right up there next to the Syrah icons of France’s Northern Rhône Valley. Today’s Columbia Valley Syrah from Gramercy Cellars, a perennial SommSelect favorite, is becoming an icon unto itself, as is “Washington State Syrah” in general. If you’re trying to figure out where to place it among the established world’s best, think of the most fragrant, mineral, high-wire wines of Côte-Rôtie and Saint-Joseph, add a well-modulated dollop of added concentration, and you’re there. As expected, Master Sommelier-turned-winemaker Greg Harrington and his Gramercy Cellars partner, Brandon Moss, continue to raise the stakes with this Columbia Valley Syrah. Especially when you factor in the price, you couldn’t ask for a