Columbia Valley (Washington Syrah)

Columbia Valley Syrah is Washington State's high-desert answer to the northern Rhone: a deeply coloured, plush yet savoury red grown on sun-drenched, sandy, basalt-and-loess soils under a huge, arid continental sky. It marries ripe New-World fruit — dark blackberry and blueberry — to Old-World meatiness, cracked black pepper and a distinctive stony, umami edge, sitting between the lush Shiraz of Australia and the smoky Syrah of France.