2017 Pax Syrah Sonoma Hillsides - offer is live

It will be interesting to see if the AG ‘100’ for the 2016 causes this to quickly sell out.

For me it’s just the fact that Pax’s blended Syrah is my favorite of all his wines, whether the dearly departed Wind Gap Syrah Sonoma Coast, or the Hillsides bottling.

Plenty of 2017 available on the shelves of at least two of our local retailers. I should open one of my 2016 bottles and see what all the fuss is about.

Pax has a less consistent “house style” than most, but when it’s on - it’s on. Catch a Griffin’s Lair syrah at the right time, I think it can be one of CA’s greatest Syrah experiences. TN from the last GL opened (2010 vintage): Terrific, comes across very masculine, almost severe in its structure, seems built to age, good fruit behind the edifice of structure, aromatics include olive, smoke, very attractive nose, a little tough on palate but overall an incredible cold climate and old world character. would have like to try at 10 y. 4+ (out of 5). Regards.

Respect for putting it out to members with no price increase. Loved the 2016!

Missed the 2016, but took a flyer this morning on my two bottle allocation. Does anyone know what their team thinks of this vintage, the only blurb I saw was more of a mission statement about the wine. Would love to see the winemaker’s notes.

2017 Pax Syrah, Sonoma Hillsides

Inspired by the flamboyant wines of St Joseph, this 100% Syrah is one of the most exciting and compelling wines we have ever put into bottle. Some of you may remember the Sonoma Hillsides name, we have bottled a couple over the years. While we have historically used this moniker for lesser wines, we felt it best described the spirit of this blend, which is anything but a lesser wine. Just like in St Joseph, we pulled this blend together from multiple sites and utilized the expositions of these hillside vineyards that show the freshness and vibrancy that Syrah can only achieve on cool-climate hillside slopes. This wine is decadent, delicious and all hyperbole aside, will probably be one of your favorite Syrahs after just one taste. It is without any doubt, one of our finest creations…

Tried some of the 17 two weeks ago at the winery.

While I certainly didn’t mind it, it’s just not for me. I prefer some of Pax’s other syrahs.

Carbonic on syrah is just not for me.

You absolutely should. 16 was a revelatory wine for me this year. I’m wondering about the ageability of this bottling given low sulfur? Some have suggested an early drinking window. All I know is it’s unique and delicious.

The two notes on CT of the 2017 suggest that it will be similar in style from my few reference bottles of 16

That’s funny JohnP, I opened the 2016 Pax and a 2011 Gonon St-Joe side-by-side this weekend. Regarding the Pax, maybe it is entering a shut-down phase, because the nose wasn’t really giving and the palate was dominated by olive (I gave it 4 hours in the decanter before consuming). I know it isn’t quite fair to compare a 2011 vs a 2016, but the Gonon was amazing as a PnP. The nose kept morphing every few seconds - I couldn’t really pin specific items down - very complex. The palate started out on the acidic side, but the tannins came sneaking in after about 30 minutes and the wine ended up being really balanced. Cheers!

Decided to give Pax a shot. I enjoy Syrah and need to find lower cost alternatives to the Napa cabs. Bought two and wished for a third. Without the third I paid $66 each though. Shipping.

I got to try this like a month ago. I never got to taste the 2016, but I thought this was a crazy good value for a full bodied California red wine. It was super interesting too. I can’t recall the last time I had anything in this range that was this good.

Funny you mention Griffin’s Lair. I got to taste the 2014, and while it was really good, I’m super excited to see what the 16 and 17 are going to taste like. It seems as though he’s made some changes since 14 in his winemaking (for me, for the better). It was my second favorite after the Sonoma Hillsides 17

It’s not really clear to me what a Pax “house style” would look like, as he is very good (one of the very best IMO) at letting the vineyards speak for themselves.

Totally agree that it would be difficult to describe a Pax “house style”. Another way of saying you don’t always know what to expect. The term was simply a euphemism for the degree to which a producer’s influence on the consistency of what goes into the bottle. There are examples of great wines along the whole continuum of intervention. Regards

Love Pax’s Syrah. Didn’t get a chance to try the 2016 but just ordered 6 of the 2017. My final wine splurge of the year, hopefully its worth it.

Seems like 17 is just as good or better. Below is the official email sent out earlier today that talks about both vintages briefly.

2017 Sonoma Hillsides Syrah



Greetings from Sebastopol,

Few things are as exciting to us as a great bottle of Syrah. We love the energetic new wave Syrahs coming out of Australia, and California certainly produces almost as many exquisite and classic Syrahs as it does ridiculous ones, while France is of course our inspiration. We always feel lucky to have the opportunity to drink the great Syrahs, the simple ones, and the delicious ones and are always digging for the next great ones.

Last year we debuted a Syrah called Sonoma Hillsides. Inspired by the great Syrahs of St Joseph, our little wine is a blend of multiple sites, techniques and soils and is blended for harmony just like they do in St Joseph. The Sonoma Hillsides is outrageously distinctive immediately, which is why we release it earlier than our other wines, but seems to add nuance and layers as it ages, which is what we had imagined it would do. The wine caused an immediate stir in the Sommelier community because of some surprising results in a blind tasting that we attended in NYC and friends and customers that tasted the wine doubled down on their purchases and begged for more. I of course wrote about the wine and told many of you that didn’t have the opportunity to try it that you should do the same and buy as much as you can, it is that good. Some of you listened, many of you waited until Antonio Galloni gave the wine the highest praise a critic can give a wine. The rest as they say is history…

The 2017 Sonoma Hillsides is a worthy successor to the now immortal 2016. I have poured the wine at tastings in NYC & San Francisco and at the winery and many wine professionals prefer the 2017 to the 2016 when tasted side by side. The composition is similar, the concept is identical and the wine is absolutely delicious. I cannot stress just how much demand there is in the market for this wine. We produced the same amount of 2017 as we did of the 2016 and we have kept the pricing exactly the same. There is no cash grab, just someone that loves Syrah more than anyone you know, trying to get this great little wine into the hands into as many of the right people as possible.

Now is your chance.

We thank you for your continued support.

Santé,
Pax and Pam

a few spots around here have had them on the shelves, and one of them even had one open for tasting. its wowed everyone who tasted it so far that I know of. The fact that last years was a 100 pointer and theres basically no price increase alone is reason enough for me to support them

Thanks for posting that, I missed the email. I can’t wait to try it!

don’t think it’s an issue as long as you store in a temp controlled cellar. Allemand makes a beautiful sulfur free syrah that ages spectacularly. With all the stuffing the 16 has i don’t see any reason it won’t age well.

grabbed 4 and ask for 4 more of the 17.

had the 2017 recently and served it blind to someone whose palate i respect and he’s actually a great blind taster - came off as a very european styled and classic northern rhone syrah. the color was dark, but in line with what i’ve seen with 2015s from st jo and cote-rotie. i loved it.

Nice, thank you for the color. I just had my wish list granted for a half dozen