Nestled in the southeast corner of Washington state in Walla Walla Valley, Saviah Cellars’ owners Richard and Anita Funk produce a wide variety of small-batch wine, along with their larger marketed “The Jack” line of wines. With an estate planting of 10 acres in the uniquely stony terroir of the (soon-to-be-official) Rocks District of Milton-Freewater, the select amount of wine from Saviah Cellars’ vineyard display aromatic profiles reminiscent of the ground the fruit came from.
The 2011 Funk Estate Syrah is a prime example of the terroir specifics. Co-fermented with five percent Viognier, lift is added to the aromatics with orange peel and violets while earth, smoke and cedar bloom before the fruit does. The dark fruit of red currants and sweet ripe raspberry soon burst in, with the wine then transitions into more medium-bodied red fruits on the palate, tart and easy on the acid, with fine-grained tannins and dried cherry for a silky, seductive finish.
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