Our Weekend Wine for this week, Curtis Ambassador’s Vineyard Syrah 2004, hails from California’s Santa Ynez Valley, right near Santa Barbara.  

The Curtis Syrah is yet another one of those wines that almost makes you forget that you’re drinking a beverage made from grapes.  It had exotic scents of prune and spice (maybe cinnamon gum right out of the wrapper?), and flavors of black pepper, blueberry, and cherry, all of which we enjoyed.  It was also big, but not gargantuan, in body – we found it so delicious that its high alcohol content (hefty at 15.5%) was barely noticeable.

Where to get it: We bought our bottle at Plumjack on Fillmore Street in San Francisco.  You can also find it using the Snooth search function under “Wine Locator” in the right hand column of this page, or by visiting wine-searcher.com or winezap.com.