Cabot, Kimberly’s Vineyard Syrah, 2016

Syrah grown at the literal northern edge of California wine country, in the mountains of Humboldt County far above where anyone sensible plants vines. John and Kimberly Cabot farm organically up here, and Kimberly's is their home estate cuvee, made only in vintages that earn it. The trick that makes it sing is a co-fermentation with a small dose of Viognier (5 to 10 percent), an old Northern Rhone move that lifts the aromatics and adds a floral top note. Fermented with native yeasts and aged mostly in neutral French oak, so the fruit and the cool-climate freshness lead rather than the wood. This is genuinely off-the-beaten-path California Syrah, and worth seeking out for exactly that reason.