2012 Aril Wine Syrah Atlas Peak Napa Valley 750 ml

Now at Silver Oak, He Crafted Aril’s High-Altitude Napa Version of Cornas

Big and bold, this is a Cabernet drinker’s Syrah—no surprise, considering it was fashioned by acclaimed winemaker Nate Weiss, who left Aril in 2014 to join cult Napa icon Silver Oak. Packed with rich fruit yet showing terrific tension and bite, this bottle has chophouse dinner written all over it, crying out for a meaty steak—Cornas meets high-altitude Napa. 

Michelin-starred Redd in Yountville, Spruce in San Francisco, Charlie Palmer, The Lodge at Pebble Beach—all carry Aril wines on their lists. Founded in 2006 by Joanne and Harmon Brown, grapes are sourced from four distinct vineyards in Napa; one of our longtime favorites is Antica’s Antinori property, 1,500 feet up on the rugged reaches of Atlas Peak. This is among the highest appellations in Napa Valley and one of the coolest, a mecca for wineries like Caymus, Bryant Family, Colgin, Chappellet and others, who prize the fruit eked out from the steep, high-elevation slopes.

Known for its Bordeaux varieties, Atlas Peak is also a source of stunning Syrah. Old, volcanic, iron-rich soils lend the grape powerful structure and mineral, earthy depth; splashed with sunlight by day, chilled by cool nights after dark, berries grows stride by stride in both concentration and acidity. High up on prime Atlas Peak terroir, the 2012 vintage proved electric for Aril’s Syrah, infusing a muscular Northern Rhône structure with opulent notes of blackberry, violet, cracked pepper, and juicy blueberry.

Winemaker Nate Weiss—formerly of Patz & Hall, whose deft touch with Cabernet and barrel-aging snagged him a post in 2014 at iconic Napa winery Silver Oak Cellars—found himself dealt a straight flush in the 2012 vintage. It was a vintage in which nearly everything went right. From mid-June to late August, barely a drop of rain fell. Even so, temperatures remained mild, absent any significant heat spikes. At harvest, yields were high but almost paradoxically, concentration was extreme. Already in 2013, Robert Parker was sounding the alarm that the year for Napa was not to be missed, declaring:

“The resulting wines are exactly what we have come to expect from top years in Napa Valley — exuberant and boisterous, filled with oodles of ripe fruit, exceptional purity and fleshy, succulent, mouthfilling, crowd-pleasing personalities of considerable character and richness.”

Fruit-forward, luscious, full-bodied, with velvety tannins, this is a bottle that finds its true calling paired with a marbled porterhouse or T-bone. After decanting (the wine is unfiltered and unfined), this is pure voluptuous, black-fruited pleasure.