KYSELA PERE ET FILS, LTD.

"Aromas of blackberries, black raspberries, violets, black and white peppercorns and stones. It’s medium-bodied with fine, tightly knit tannins. Seamless and transparent with a silky texture. Very bright and pure with layers of wild berries and minerals. Tar and dark tobacco, too. Drink or hold."

- James Suckling (June 2021), 95 pts

"The 2018 Syrah La Serenne comes from the Yakima Valley and is always a more gamey, complex, exotic Syrah than the Cote Rousse. All from the Boushey Vineyard and seeing 70% stems, its ruby/purple hue gives way to a great nose of blueberries, lavender, smoked game, and peppered meat. Blind, I'd have guess it was from the Rocks region in Walla Walla given it's gamey exotic, floral character. Beautiful on the palate as well, with medium to full body, building tannins, and plenty of fruit, it needs 2-3 years of bottle age and will cruise for over a decade."

- Jeb Dunnuck (May 2021), 94 pts

"Bright, dark red. Slightly high-toned aromas of black raspberry, boysenberry, black pepper and licorice, accented by a violet topnote. Dense, lush and fine-grained, but with terrific peppery lift and energy to its dark berry, mineral and licorice flavors. The black pepper element adds verve to the middle palate and lifts the finishing fruit. Still a bit youthfully imploded but boasts terrific juiciness. The tannins are dusty and fine-grained but substantial and nicely buffered by the wine's sheer extract. Neither particularly sweet nor gamey, this wine's tightly coiled spring calls for some patience. Incidentally, these Betz Syrahs carry very reasonable alcohol levels in the high 13s, and there's nothing cooked about their fruit. (vinified with 70% whole clusters) - Stephen Tanzer"

- Antonio Galloni's Vinous (December 2020), 93+ pts

"Coming from the Boushey vineyard, the 2018 Syrah la Serenne opens with a bold nose that is broad-shouldered with nuances of spice and elegant tones that waft with a black-fruited dustiness and nuances of brown baking spices, black pepper and red and purple flowers. Medium to full-bodied, this Syrah is more generous than the Walla Walla Syrah, with a mouthfeel full of expression and a bold richness across the mid-palate. The wine ends with a good, long finish with lively tannins that linger. Made with 80% whole-cluster fermentation, the wine rested in 20% new oak barrels for 14 months. Only 3,300 bottles produced. - Anthony Mueller "

- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (October 2020), 93 pts

"Coming all from Boushey Vineyard, the 2016 Syrah La Serenne saw plenty of whole clusters as well as 11 months in French oak, 40% new. It’s deep inky colored with a smoking bouquet of blueberries, spring flowers, gunpowder like minerality, and liquid violets. With classic gamey Syrah character, plenty of pepper, medium to full-bodied richness, and a heavenly, silky texture, this might just be the finest vintage of this cuvée to date."
- Jeb Dunnuck (April 2018), 96 pts

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"The 2016 Syrah la Serenne hails from two acres within the Boushey Vineyard and was fermented with between 66% and 100% whole clusters. The wine is already very complex, wafting from the glass with notes of grilled meat, dried lavender, pepper and candied peel. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, ample and lavish, with a layered mid-palate, fine-grained structuring tannins, sappy acids and a sapid, saline finish. - William Kelley"
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (Issue #237, June 2018), 95 pts

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"Dark, brooding and modern, this has pepper, cherry liqueur and chocolate plus exotic spicy flavors that extend through to the palate. Assertive, forthright finish. Needs three to four years to open."
- James Suckling (May 2018), 95 pts

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"Refined and delicately expressive, with blueberry and smoked spice flavors that linger elegantly toward sleek tannins. Drink now through 2023. 300 cases made. –TF"
- Wine Spectator (July 2018), 91 pts

Go To Betz Family La Serenne Syrah

"This has terrific plum and boysenberry aromas with attractive wet earth and deep plums, violets, hard brown spices and dark stones. The palate has bright yet precise dark-plum and blackberry fruits, spiced dark chocolate, stony elements and a long, succulent finish. Brilliant wine in a very early stage of its life. Drink 2020 through a decade or more."
- James Suckling (December 2018), 96 pts - #88 - TOP 100 AMERICAN WINES OF 2018

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"The pure, elegant and textured 2014 Syrah la Serenne offers that classic violet and floral characteristics of the cuvee, as well as medium to full-bodied richness, lots of black raspberry fruit, fine, sweet tannin and a great finish. It’s not as powerful or concentrated as the La Cote Rousse, yet it’s a joy to drink and will cruise for a decade or more on its balance and purity. - Jeb Dunnuck"
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (Issue #225, June 2016), 93 pts

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"The estate's Yakima Valley Syrah, the 2013 Syrah La Serenne spent 11 months in barrel before being bottled last November. Schedule to be released this fall, it has intense, yet fresh and lively notes of violets, spring flowers, cracked pepper, iron and sweet black and blue fruits. Full-bodied, pretty, lively and nicely focused, give it a year or two and enjoy bottles through 2028."
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (Issue #219, June 2015), 94 pts

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"Bright medium ruby. Knockout nose combines black raspberry, garrigue and violet, plus a faint gamey quality; conveys an impression of restrained wildness. Densely packed and thick but still a bit reduced, with flavors of purple fruits, licorice, bitter chocolate, mocha and game complicated by a note of Brazil nuts. Quite backward on the finish and in need of at least a couple years of patience. Like La Cote Patriarche, this wine is entirely from Phelps clones. But these shy-bearing vines were picked much later than the other two Syrahs here as they're planted in a cooler site. - Stephen Tanzer"
- Vinous (November 2015), 92+ pts

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"The aromas of dark fruit, mineral, smoked meat, coffee and spice are brooding, not yet fully revealing their charms. Elegant yet penetrating, the fruit and savory flavors coat the palate from end to end with supple-feeling fruit flavors and a lengthy finish."
- Wine Enthusiast (March 2016), 92 pts

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"As for the Syrah-driven wines, they do two main cuvees, one focusing on Boushey Vineyard, the La Serenne, and the other on Red Mountain, the La Cote Rousse. The 2012 Syrah La Serenne is a 100% Syrah that was aged in 50% new French oak prior to bottling. I think the greatest vintage of this cuvee to date, it boasts an incredibly inky purple color to go with notions of creme de cassis, damp earth, graphite, smoke and licorice that flow to a full-bodied, voluptuously textured profile on the palate. Despite all of the richness, it stays thrillingly focused and shows the purity and elegance of the site. Enjoy it anytime over the coming 10-15 years. - Jeb Dunnuck"
- Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate, (Issue 213, June 2014), 95 pts

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"Dense and spicy, the tannins part to make way for a rush of blackberry, blueberry and plum fruit, nicely tweaked with licorice and toast accents. Drink now through 2022.-H.S"

Wine Spectator's Insider (July 8th 2015), 93 pts

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".. perfectly balanced, elegant and incredibly fresh, the 2011 Syrah La Serenne is 100% Syrah and comes from the cooler-climate Boushey Vineyard in Yakima Valley. Showing a lively, Cote-Rotie-like perfume of blackberry, pepper, thyme, flowers and clean minerality, it is medium-bodied, beautifully pure and has a seamless texture that keeps you coming back to the glass. While already approachable, it possesses enough ripe tannin and depth for 8-10 years of prime drinking. Drink now-2024.- JD"

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (2013), 91-93 pts

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"(100% Boushey fruit planted to the Phelps clone in a higher-altitude site; aged in 45% new oak): Lucid red-ruby color. Aromatic scents of boysenberry and graphite. Lovely spicy, peppery lift and energy to the brooding, primary dark berry flavors. Intense and impeccably balanced wine with a light touch and lovely lingering perfume. This is a moderate 13.8% alcohol, with a relatively low pH (for this wine) of 3.62 and 6.1 grams per liter acidity. Owing to its serious inner-mouth tension, I'd wait a couple years before pulling the cork on this beauty. Incidentally, winemaker Betz cut the percentage of new oak aging from 65% to 45%, and noted that his crop level in 2011 was a good 15% lower than the previous year, partly due to the damaging frost in November of 2010."

Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar (Nov/Dec 2013), 93+

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"Bright nose features musky black raspberry, smoke, minerals, chocolate and a whiff of tar. Bright, delineated and intense, conveying terrific acidity for syrah. Proprietor Betz describes 2010 as "a return to structure in syrah" and this wine is also extremely primary, with tarry minerality and a cracked pepper quality adding nuance. Finishes with firm but suave tannins, excellent grip and terrific peppery lift. In texture, this wine is midway between Cote-Rotie and Saint-Joseph, and wonderfully fresh.- ST"

Steven Tanzer

Go To Betz Family La Serenne Syrah

"Vibrant, expressive and deftly balanced, this plays the juicy currant, plum and lavender flavors against refined tannins and lively acidity, firming up smoothly on the long finish. Drink now through 2018. 535 cases made.-H.S"

Wine Spectator (October 31th 2013), 93 pts

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"Originating in Boushey Vineyard, Betz’s 2010 Syrah La Serenne is scented with cassis and blackberry, sage and fennel. As it takes on air, a delightfully bitter-sweet, iris-like floral dimension emerges. Palpably dense and finely tannic, it displays a sense of constriction and firmness, although its dark berry flavors are very ripe and its herbal aspect expressively pungent. Saliva-inducing salinity, an invigorating bite of black pepper, and a note of tar complement tart-edged, juicy fruit and herbs in a finish more exuberantly energetic, expansive and engaging than this wine’s mid-palate presence had led me to anticipate. This should be a delight to follow over the next 6-8 years and I would advise simply leaving it untouched for the first couple as it works through a relatively reduced (and, metaphorically-speaking, tightly-wound) condition."

Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate (Issue #205), 92 pts

Go To Betz Family La Serenne Syrah