2021 Cimento Estate Syrah Rated 97

"The 2021 Syrah River Rock Vineyard comes from the Le Mani (River Rock) Vineyard in the Rocks region of the Walla Walla Valley and is 100% Syrah aged in one-third new French oak. It has a vivid purple hue as well as beautiful aromatics of red, blue, and black fruits along with classic cool-climate Syrah notes of lavender, game, ground pepper, and violets. These all carry over to the palate, where the wine is medium to full-bodied, has a pure, layered, seamless mouthfeel, beautiful tannins, and not a hard edge to be found. It will evolve for 15+ years if well stored and is one hell of an impressive Syrah from this team." 97 Jeb Dunnuck

Readers looking for the next big thing in Washington wine will need to put Cimento on their radar. The wines are made by Todd Alexander, and while they focus on their estate Le Mani (formerly known as River Rock) Vineyard in the Rocks region, they pull from a handful of other sites as well. These 2021s will be their first releases, and I’d say they’re more than starting off on the right foot. These wines push the price, but the quality is undeniably there, and these are world-class wines.