2020 Charles Smith K Vintners Powerline Estate Syrah, Walla Walla Valley, USA
Wine-Searcher tracks this 2020 Charles Smith K Vintners Powerline Estate Syrah across United States retailers. The published low is $54* and the average is $57.42. Our price is $40.
K Vintners
2020 Charles Smith K Vintners Powerline Estate Syrah, Walla Walla Valley, USA
James Suckling scored this Powerline Syrah 97 points, and Wine Advocate scored it 93+!
Claire Nesbitt, deputy tasting editor at James Suckling, tasted spice and power in this Syrah, with black olive, nutmeg, cracked pepper, and black cherry over a saline edge and bitter chocolate under the fruit, in a full, firm, polished glass whose velvety texture carries the black fruit through a long finish.
Anthony Mueller at Wine Advocate found the vintage focused and sturdy, with "black plum and dark cherry" opening into flowers, then a fresh mineral line and a savory juicy finish.
When James Suckling and Wine Advocate both stop on this Powerline Syrah, what are you waiting for?
"The stones came down off the Blue Mountains, and this Syrah still tastes like that riverbed."
The bottle is only $40. Add it.
Twelve bottles ship free in the lower 48. Hawaii and Alaska ship on the zone rate.
K Vintners, The Dream. Charles Smith's own film of the house. It is the project, not a tasting of this vintage.
Cobbles under the Blue Mountains
Charles Smith wrote the note on this estate Syrah, and the ground is the reason the glass tastes the way it does. Powerline Estate sits in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, just south of Walla Walla, where river cobbles lie over sand and gravel. The wine is 100% Syrah.
His glass is dark and brooding, and it stays refined. Black plum sits with toasted herbs, leather, and nori, and lavender, saline, and earth stay after the sip. He said there is more in the bottle than the first pour gives up.
The pale stones filling the lane between the young rows are that riverbed, and the ridge beyond them is the Blue Mountains.
Whole clusters, then the puncheons
The fruit fermented as whole clusters on native yeast in stainless steel, and it stayed on the skins for 52 days. It then aged 28 months on its lees in French oak puncheons, 30% of them new.
The tall casks with the dark iron hoops are those puncheons, standing on the cellar floor under a small window in the brick vault.
Venison, then the stew
This Syrah wants beef and venison. Wine-braised venison is the darker plate, the sage and the long braise meeting the leather and the toasted herbs. Beef bourguignon is the second, the bacon and the mushrooms meeting the black plum.
Both plates follow the fruit and the savory line already in the glass.
Wine-braised venison
Shredded venison pulling off a pale bone in a dark braise, with sage and rosemary.
Why it works: The sage and the long braise meet the leather and the toasted herbs.
View Recipe for Wine-braised venison (opens in a new tab)
Beef bourguignon
Cubed beef with whole mushrooms, carrot, and bacon in a dark sauce.
Why it works: The bacon and the mushrooms meet the black plum.
View Recipe for Beef bourguignon (opens in a new tab)Take the bottle home.
"The stones came down off the Blue Mountains, and this Syrah still tastes like that riverbed."
Powerline Estate Syrah from Walla Walla Valley, vintage 2020. The bottle is only $40. Add it.
