2016 Gramercy Cellars Syrah Walla Walla Valley 750 ml

For most wine pros, achieving the title of Master Sommelier is a very ambitious goal.  

For Greg Harrington, it was a departure point.

In 1996, at just 26 years of age, Harrington became the youngest Master Somm in history. He worked as the wine director for Emerial Lagasse’s restaurants at the time, then went on to lead the beverage program for a prestigious group in NYC. He is, as Sur Lucero—our own Master Sommelier—put it, a “great wine mind.”

But in the early 2000s, a few superb Washington State wines found their way into his glass. Harrington was so inspired that, in 2005, he left his flourishing career in New York and moved West to make Washington wines himself.

That’s the story of Gramercy Cellars, which went on to capture Food & Wine’s Best New Winery award in 2010. Washington is known for wines that meld New World fruit with Old World elegance, and that’s exactly what Harrington and the Gramercy team’s Rhône and Bordeaux-style bottlings deliver flawlessly.

Gramercy’s 2016 Walla Walla Valley is a perfect example of what Harrington is shooting for, and a testimony to how beautifully these wines age. It was grown on two Walla Walla sites: the Holy Roller Vineyard—which is farmed by Chris Figgins (of Leonetti fame) and brings power and classic Syrah aromatics—and Gramercy’s Forgotten Hills estate vineyard, which contributes freshness, acidity, finesse, and structure.

Fermented in a combination of concrete and stainless steel, aged for 18 months in neutral French oak barrels and puncheons, it was bottled at an extremely modest 12.5% ABV. It’s just now showing signs of graceful maturity and will certainly last another decade-plus in the cellar.