Ex Umbris
⏳ Drinking Window
2024 - 2032
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Grilled lamb chops, smoked beef brisket, wild mushroom stew
✨ Technical Specifications
Ex Umbris, translating from Latin as 'Out of the Shadows,' is a dramatic and expressive Syrah that beautifully showcases the rugged terroir of Washington's Columbia Valley. The name historically references the wine's resilience and its ability to emerge triumphantly from challenging growing conditions, capturing the dark, mysterious, and deeply concentrated nature of Pacific Northwest Syrah. Sourced from premier, sun-drenched vineyards in the Yakima Valley and broader Columbia Valley, the grapes undergo gentle fermentation in small open-top fermenters before aging in French oak barrels. This meticulous, low-intervention approach coaxes out the grape's signature savory complexity, yielding a wine defined by dark fruit, exotic spices, and a distinct earthy undertone that has made it a benchmark for Washington Syrah.
🍾 About the Producer
Founded in 1999 by winemaker David O'Reilly and Jerry McNally, Owen Roe was established with a mission to craft world-class, terroir-driven wines from the premier vineyard sites of the Pacific Northwest. Named in honor of the 17th-century Irish patriot Owen Roe O'Neill, the winery operates estate facilities and sources fruit spanning both Washington's Columbia and Yakima Valleys and Oregon's Willamette Valley. Owen Roe champions a low-intervention winemaking philosophy, utilizing gentle handling and thoughtful oak integration to articulate the distinctive character of esteemed vineyards such as DuBrul, Red Willow, and Union Gap. The producer is widely celebrated for its nuanced single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Cabernet Franc, alongside popular and characterful blends like Sinister Hand, Ex Umbris, and Abbot's Table.
🍇 Grape Varieties
Syrah
🍷 Alcohol By Volume (ABV)
14.1%