Arnot-Roberts 2023 Syrah, Clary Ranch, Petaluma Gap, Sonoma County

The Arnot-Roberts 2023 Syrah from Clary Ranch greets you with calm energy. Blueberry and back-of-the-throat black cherry mingle with peppercorn spice, earthy cured meat, and a hit of sea air. It’s evocative, not showy—Petaluma’s wind-chapped vineyards distilled into scent.

On the palate, tension takes over. The fruit is dark and broad but never lax, threading into firm, sinewy tannins. You taste slate and graphite more than oak—just enough grip to hold, not to hold back. A whisper of smoked meat and red pomegranate skin lingers, carrying nerve in place of lushness.

Clary Ranch stands where coastal fog and wind carry strength—it’s Sonoma’s southern-most site, its soils lean and marine-influenced, with shale and quartz driving the fruit toward tension. The vines are farmed organically; the cellar translates, not transforms. Extended native yeast fermentation, minimal new oak for support, not veneer. Everything here reads site first, winemaking second.

2023 brought cool enough conditions for angularity, yet allowed full flavor development. This vintage isn’t about tropical ripeness—it’s about refined clarity under cooler coastal pressure. Clary’s Syrah equates cold not with green, but with structure.

This is a wine that doesn’t loom—it lingers. Open it with venison, aged mutton, or let it breathe on its own in the playing out of a late evening. It asks nothing, but gives you everything.

Arnot-Roberts 2023 Clary Ranch Syrah—wind-carved firmness, marine breath, and a glass formed by place.