Anthill Farms Syrah, 2009 Peters Vineyard, Sonoma Coast

Anthill Farms is a collaborative effort between three guys who met while working at Williams Selyem in the Russian River Valley. They joined forces in 2004. The three young winemaking partners, Anthony Filiberti, Webster Marquez, and David Low, focus on extreme cool climate sites on the far coast of Sonoma and Mendocino counties. The emphasis at Anthill Farms is on the vineyards and have named their winery Anthill Farms to emphasize the many tiny individual vineyards that form “the link between place and product.” The trio avoid calling attention to themselves, preferring to bring notoriety to their winegrowers. Wine & Spirits magazine wrote that the team produced two of the most exciting syrahs that they tasted in 2011. 

The 2009 Sonoma Coast Syrah comes from the Peters Vineyard. The Peters Vineyards sits right outside Sebastopol in western Sonoma County. Randy Peters and his father-in-law, Tom Mukaida, farm this vineyard outside of Sebastopol in western Sonoma County. The southern slopes of these hills form the northern edge of the Petaluma Gap, which rushes cool, marine air from the Pacific Ocean inland. These Syrah and Viognier vines, which Randy planted for them just a few years ago, occupy less than an acre at the lowest edge of this cool, foggy vineyard.  Originally an apple orchard, this vineyard was replanted in the early 80's, has lots of hot, daily sun exposure but is close enough to the coast to get morning and evening ocean fog. This cool, foggy vineyard produces dense, meaty fruit that is fully developed and loaded with complexity for an Hermitage-like expression. This vineyard's soil composition is a rich Goldridge Sandy Loam. 

Though Anthill Farms focuses on producing exceptional pinot noir from a broad range of North Coast vineyards, their last few releases of syrah caught our attention. The properties are managed with intensive and meticulous farming practices, with minimal ecological impact. As for winemaking, there *are two unchanging goals: to make wines that express the growing site and the characteristics of the vintage above all else, and to make wines that, simply put, taste good. These goals require gentle handling from crushing to bottling, judicious use of oak, and, perhaps most importantly, leaving the wine alone as much as possible.

The partners themselves farm many of the small plots where they buy their grapes, and the results of this labor of love are remarkably seductive wines that combine concentration and finesse. Because of the demand in their highly sought out wines, the company has grown from producing 200 cases in 2004 to 1,800 in 2009 to over 2700 in 2011. In 2009 Food & Wine Magazine named Anthill Winery the Most Promising New Winery.

The dark purple fruit, though rich, does not sit on the palate at all heavy or flabby, but is expressive and keeps you digging your nose back down deep into the glass again and again for another whiff of that black pepper spice.

This wine’s nose exhibits pronounced resinous aromatics alongside a bouquet of morello cherry, violets, river stone, and meat. The mid palate is simultaneously powerful and weightless.

The experts weigh in:

97 points - Wine & Spirits:
'The body of this wine is straightforward. It's stemmy and meaty, what Syrah should taste like,' commented Eric Railsback of RN74... .The aroma of the wine is what kicked several tasters into overdrive, trying to capture their reaction in words. Taking a step back from the pure sensuality this offers as it plumps up with air, it's possible to imagine that stemminess evolving into the scents of green peppercorn, black peppercorn, basil and thyme, a high note of meadow flowers, intoxicating to smell. Meanwhile, the texture of the wine is about as luscious as it could get while the flavors remain savory. The tannins are fine, without any spike, creating a kind of effortless friction as if rubbing against the nap of velvet." (10/11) 

93 points - Rhone Report:
"Very peppery and gamey, the 2009 Anthill Farms Syrah Peters Vineyard has knockout cool-climate aromatics of peppered beef, violets, black raspberry, sappy herbs, and crushed rock like minerality on the nose. Similarly textured to the Sonoma Coast, with beautiful polish to the tannin, and a suppleness that keeps you coming back to the glass, it firms up nicely on the finish and should age for 7-8 years, if not longer. I'd like a touch more depth through the middle here, but this is still one solid bottle of wine. (Dec 2011)"

92 points - Josh Raynolds (International Wine Cellar):
"Opaque purple. Shows a compelling array of red and dark berry and floral scents, with complicating spice and mineral nuances and an intriguing hint of apricot. Spicy, precise and energetic, with sappy raspberry and blackberry flavors, a jolt of cracked pepper and slow-mounting smokiness. The spice and floral qualities carry through an impressively long, insinuating finish, which leaves sweet red fruit notes behind. (May/Jun 2011)"

Sonoma Coast
The Sonoma Coast AVA in California is an extensive wine region stretching from San Pablo Bay to Mendocino County and covering an area of 500,000 acres (202,000ha). The Pacific Ocean is the main influence on the cool climate here, bringing lots of rain and foggy mornings. There was a time when the region's climate was deemed too cool and marginal for growing grapes. However, most vineyards are planted on ridges, keeping them above the fog and exposing them to the ripening forces of the sun.