Wine Advocate: 95pts
I tasted the 2014 Syrah James Berry Vineyard just before bottling, but wasn't able to taste it from bottle in enough time to get it into the latest Paso Robles report. This bottle was tasted at my office in Colorado and followed for multiple days. As from barrel, it's a dead ringer for a classic Cote Rotie and offers notes of black raspberries, cassis, olives, hints of bacon fat, liquid violets and pepper. Medium to full-bodied, concentrated, elegant and silky, it has beautiful purity of fruit, fine tannin and a great finish, all suggesting it will evolve nicely for 10-12 years.
Vinous: 94pts
Vivid magenta. An explosively perfumed, complex bouquet displays intense boysenberry, cherry liqueur, licorice, allspice and sandalwood scents, while a smoky mineral topnote gains strength with air. Completely stains the palate with sweet black and blue fruit, spicecake and candied lavender flavors that show impressive litheness for their heft. Smooth, slow-building tannins shape the finish, which hangs on with outstanding, floral-driven persistence.
-- Josh Raynolds