Matt Morris White Hawk spotlight
The market on this bottle
Wine-Searcher tracks this 2020 Matt Morris White Hawk Vineyard Syrah, Santa Barbara County across the open market. Their published U.S. low is $33.02 and the average is $33.02. Our slash is $33.00.
2020 Matt Morris White Hawk Vineyard Syrah, Santa Barbara County
Francoise Peschon's White Hawk Syrah from Cat Canyon sand, pepper and iodine, a 2020 you can open at thirty-five dollars.
The 2020 is cool-climate Syrah from White Hawk: dark berry, crushed black pepper, smoked meat, and a bright, stony close, now $33.
Maggie Harrison's other gifted block, Francoise Peschon's sand-grown Syrah
White Hawk sits in Cat Canyon on pure sand hillsides that force the vines to struggle. Maggie Harrison sent Matt Morris to these rows the same way she sent him to Bien Nacido. Francoise Peschon, after decades of Napa Cabernet including a long run at Araujo, made this as cool-climate Syrah with pepper and iodine instead of jam. James Suckling 92: dark berry, crushed black pepper, medium body, crisp acidity, fresh and bright. This is the bottle that argues Santa Barbara Syrah from those sand hills can still be a table wine.
The house
Matt Morris Wines began with Charbono beside Benoit Touquette. The Syrah chapter starts when Maggie Harrison insisted he take her White Hawk and Bien Nacido fruit.
The site
White Hawk in Cat Canyon is planted on sand hillsides. The site is famous for concentration and a marine, iodine minerality.
The scores
James Suckling 92: dark berry, crushed black pepper, medium body, crisp acidity, fresh and bright, drink now.
The drinker
Berry and pepper first. Decant 30 to 45 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. Lamb or short ribs.
Dark berry, then pepper, smoke, and iodine
James Suckling called the 2020 attractive in dark berry and crushed black pepper, subtle and bright, medium body, crisp acidity, with ripe fruit at the end that still stays fresh. That is sand-grown White Hawk Syrah, not a warm, jammy California speech.
A hard California year of heat and fire. The wines that stayed clean from cool sites still show savory fruit and structure. This Syrah drinks as dark berry, pepper, and stone, not smoke theater.
Dark berry, crushed black pepper, smoked meat, iodine, blueberry, black plum, white pepper.
Medium body, juicy, savory, lightly chewy tannin, cool-climate concentration without heaviness.
Bright, peppery, persistent. Decant 30 to 45 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F.
A Cabernet hand on sand-grown Syrah
Francoise Peschon made her name on Napa Cabernet, including a long run at Araujo. This White Hawk Syrah is cool-climate fruit from Cat Canyon sand, shaped for pepper, iodine, and a bright close rather than sweetness. The glass still reads as precision: dark fruit, spice, and a finish built on shape.
Maggie Harrison told Morris to take the fruit. White Hawk is the sand-hillside sibling to the Bien Nacido rows. That pedigree is the cellar brief.
Serve slightly cool. A 30 to 45 minute decant opens berry, pepper, and iodine without flattening the savory line.
A photographer, a gifted vineyard, a Cabernet winemaker
Matt Morris Wines is a small Napa project that reached Santa Barbara because Maggie Harrison would not let the fruit go unused.
Morris ran a photography studio in wine country before bottling Charbono with Benoit Touquette of Realm. When Realm stopped custom crush, he had to decide whether the label was real.
Harrison, after Sine Qua Non and Lillian, sent him to her Bien Nacido and White Hawk blocks and told him to take the fruit. Francoise Peschon joined for Syrah.
The 2020 White Hawk is that story in one glass: gifted sand hillsides, a Cabernet winemaker on Syrah, cool-climate fruit with pepper and iodine.
Lamb, pepper, and a slow braise
This Syrah wants rosemary lamb or a short-rib pot. Dark fruit, pepper, and iodine need protein and a little smoke.
Two plates. One rack of lamb. One short-rib braise. Both can take White Hawk Syrah.
Decant 30 to 45 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. Syrah or Burgundy stems.
Braised Lamb Shanks
Slow lamb, herbs, and a wine-dark sauce. The plate this Syrah was built for.
Why it works: Rosemary and collagen meet pepper and iodine. Fat softens the lightly chewy tannin.
View Recipe for braised lamb shanks (opens in a new tab)
Red Wine-Braised Short Ribs
A slow braise when the 2020 is the whole table wine.
Why it works: Reduced sauce mirrors dark fruit while richness meets the savory, peppery frame.
View Recipe for red wine braised short ribs (opens in a new tab)Put this White Hawk Syrah in the cart
Maggie Harrison's sand hillsides. Francoise Peschon. James Suckling 92. Thirty-five dollars.
Put it in the cart. This is the Matt Morris bottle for a table that wants cool-climate Syrah with a real vineyard name.
