2012 Villa Creek Cellars Villa Creek Syrah Bassetti Vineyard 750 ml

This is one of those rare, perfect marriages of winery and vineyard. Villa Creek is a critical darling, selected by Robert Parker in a Food & Wine article as a star of the region — “one of my favorite wineries in Paso Robles.” Vinous’s Antonio Galloni has warned readers that if they haven’t yet sampled Villa Creek’s efforts, they’re missing out on the best of Paso Robles. The 2012 Villa Creek Syrah from Bassetti Vineyard earned 94 points from Galloni who called it “utterly exquisite” — the cream of the crop of its vintage, as our chart shows.

In 1997, Ellis Bassetti — a salt-of-the-earth fourth-generation farmer in the Central Coast’s Cambria — decided to set aside a few acres amidst the wind-blown coastal grasslands for growing grapes. Bassetti had his mind set on Cabernet, but his friend, the iconic Rhône Ranger John Alban, intervened, advising him to take a riskier route: Syrah. That move would yield one of San Luis Obispo’s most exciting vineyards, producing fruit in 2008 for a Denner Vineyard wine that Wine Spectator would rank the 11th best in the world. In 2012, Bassetti grapes were the foundation of this Villa Creek Syrah.

The excellence starts with the Bassetti site, just four miles inland, where the air is chill, damp, and salty, with temperatures hardly rising above 80 in the summer. In the stellar 2012 vintage, these cool-climate conditions yielded a complex Syrah densely layered with dark fruit, leather, and chocolate. Vines struggle to thrive in the low-moisture, dry-farmed serpentine soils, making for ravishing, savory aromatics. Villa Creek’s Cris Cherry closed the deal with 100% whole cluster fermentation and aging in new French puncheons and neutral oak.

Hats off to Alban for his prescient Syrah tip, and a low bow to Bassetti and Cherry for executing this dazzling Rhône release from the wild Central Coast.