Bien Nacido Estate Syrah 2022

Written By Campbell Mattinson
Mattinson review of Bien Nacido Estate Syrah 2022.

Bien Nacido Estate Syrah 2022
13.5% alcohol, cork, Santa Maria Valley USA.

All the Bien Nacido ‘estate’ wines are good but it’s this syrah that really proves how special they are. This is a mid-weight wine with cherry plum (but more cherry than plum) flavours, black pepper, sweet spice notes and an ultra fine grain to the tannin. It might not sound like much but it’s an exquisite Syrah, not at all overdone, insistent in an understated way, and drenched in spice. Crushed rock notes add a certain special something, while cedarwood oak adds polish. If spice-driven syrah is your thing, this is a genuinely beautiful example. 96 points.

Campbell Mattinson

Campbell Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer for forty years. He founded The Winefront, is a former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion (and former editor of Halliday magazine), and is the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He is 100% independent, and tastes between 5,000 and 10,000 wines each year, blind and in comparative brackets as often as is practicable.

More about Campbell Mattinson

Mattinson is also the founder of the Mattinson Photography business.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
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