2018 Amavi Cellars Syrah Walla Walla 750 ml

If excellence is a habit, it’s been a staple in Amavi’s regimen since they were founded. And if we had to fill a bottle with everything we love about Washington Syrah, this would be it. With a vaunted winemaker and some of the state’s best vineyards, the 2018 achieves the skillful balance of New World boldness with Old World restraint that marks Walla Walla as a top-tier Syrah region, not to mention one of our favorites. 

An open-and-shut winner at our Wine Team tasting, even alongside Rhône Valley heavy hitters, this is a powerful and polished wine, drawn from estate vineyards that have inspired $50-$150 single-vineyard bottlings from the likes of 100-point Leonetti and member-favorite L'Ecole No. 41 estates. The nose brings together threads of lilac, black pepper, coffee, and herbs, carefully intertwining them in perfect balance. Blackberry preserves and spice interlace on each sip, supported by well-rounded tannins. 

Amavi’s Syrahs have been honored among the top 10 Washington Syrahs by Decanter, and Jeb Dunnuck has called them “superb,” and “more than a little impressive.” The press hasn’t come out for this 2018 yet, but we were using those same terms (and a whole lot more) to describe its elegant muscle and bottle-emptying balance. 

Amavi winemaker Jean-François Pellet is an extraordinary talent, the kind that makes excellence look effortless. An alum of St. Helena’s Heitz Cellar, he has earned a deluge of top scores for both Amavi and its sister estate Pepper Bridge during his 16-year tenure. And the 2018 vintage gifted him with “the conditions for making outstanding wines,” according to Vinous, with “near-perfect” weather in the fall, granting Syrah grapes extra hang-time and concentration.

Those conditions spelled pure magic for Amavi’s estate vineyards. This graceful 2018 includes grapes from Les Collines, which boasts a Seattle Magazine Vineyard of the Year award, along with Pepper Bridge and Seven Hills, which have supplied a who’s who of Pacific Northwest wineries, including not just Leonetti and L’Ecole No. 41, but Cristom, Domaine Serene, and more. 

Amavi’s distinctive and praiseworthy wines are backed by the team and vineyards of Pepper Bridge, a Walla Walla pillar who has, over the years, established what Wine Advocate called a “tradition of excellence,” and claiming multiple spot on Wine & Spirits Top 100 Wineries lists. While Pepper Bridge focuses on Bordeaux-style blends, Amavi ventures into Syrah and Sémillon, and does so with fantastic success. 

That’s because Syrah and Walla Walla are a perfect match. Walla Walla’s long daylight hours, warm summers, and rich loam soil check all the boxes for exceptional Syrah. Hailing from some of the region’s best vineyards, it doesn’t get much better than the 2018 Amavi.