K Vintners Motor City Kitty Syrah 2019 (750ML)

98 JS / 94 JD

#2 James Suckling's Top 100 Values of 2022
#10 James Suckling's Top 100 American Wines of 2022

Layered aromas of plums, black cherries, leather, bark and iron. Full-bodied with a lot of nuance. Firm, gripping tannins. Dried roses and crushed blackberries mix with dark, mineral complexity, leaving a buzz on the palate. A clear note of cocoa powder comes through. Concentrated and dynamic. Superb. Best after 2024.

This single-block syrah from Washington State clocked in at 98 points. It’s as serious a syrah as you’re going to find anywhere in the world, offering plums, black cherries, bark and iron with chocolatey undertones, and is so layered and complex with depth and meaty character. This wine offers you the rare opportunity of snagging a 98-point red that you don’t have to lay out a couple hundred dollars for. - James Suckling

I always seem to love this cuvée and the 2019 Syrah Motor City Kitty is no exception. Coming all from a single block in the Boushey Vineyard, it was not destemmed, spent a full 47 days on skins, and was raised 21 months in 25% new French oak. It has a great nose of darker, gamey black fruits as well as iron, ground pepper, black olives, and violets. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, this balanced, rich, gamey, Northern Rhône-like beauty is terrific today and will be terrific in 8-10 years as well. - Jeb Dunnuck