2024 Samuel Louis Smith Syrah Sandstone Terrace Santa Cruz Mountains 750 ml

Samuel Louis Smith’s wines are incredibly scarce: They’re made in tiny quantities—and the bottles that are available are gobbled up by somms at California’s greatest restaurants.

We can’t think of a young winery whose wines have been more eagerly embraced by the very top dining destinations in California. MICHELIN two-star Saison in San Francisco stocks them. MICHELIN three-star Manresa (RIP) in Los Gatos listed three different bottlings. Plumed Horse—one of only 97 Wine Spectator Grand Award winners in the world—features even more, including two vintages of the Sandstone Terrace Syrah.

A semester abroad in Bordeaux is what turned Samuel Smith into an aspiring winemaker, and after stints in Santa Barbara, Australia, Oregon, and the Northern Rhône, he ended up working at Morgan in Monterey County. He had never envisioned himself in that part of the California coast, but the kind of complex, organically farmed cool-climate wines he was making really aligned with his vision.

For Sandstone Terrace, Samuel taps two vineyards that give the Syrah different personalities. Thomasen’s Split Rail—a remarkable .75-acre dry-farmed parcel in the Corralitos district that Samuel farms directly—sits at 1,700 feet in sandstone and clay soils, surrounded by redwoods and madrones about seven miles from Monterey Bay. That’s rounded out with Lester Vineyard, a 14-acre sustainably farmed site whose cool climate and sandy loam soils yield Syrah that’s peppery, dark-fruited, and acid-driven—usually ripening all the way to October.

Bursting with California ripeness tempered by an Old World touch, this Syrah is winning fans up and down the coast. We’re thrilled to share it with you.