Sonoma-Hillsides Syrah
⏳ Drinking Window
Typically best enjoyed 3–12 years from vintage release
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roasted duck, grilled lamb chops, wild mushroom tart
✨ Technical Specifications
The Pax Sonoma-Hillsides Syrah is a modern legend in California viticulture, representing a dramatic shift toward freshness, restraint, and historical reverence. Inspired by the traditional, low-intervention wines of the Northern Rhône, winemaker Pax Mahle crafts this cuvée using 100% whole-cluster fermentation, often utilizing concrete vats for aging to preserve the pristine, crunchy fruit character and savory undertones. Sourced from select cool-climate hillside vineyards across Sonoma County, this wine famously challenged the historical California paradigm of ultra-ripe, oak-heavy Syrah. It gained legendary status in the mid-2010s, proving that California could produce a deeply savory, pepper-laced, and floral Syrah of immense energy and world-class pedigree.
🍾 About the Producer
Founded in 2000 by Pax and Pam Mahle, Pax Wines is an acclaimed artisanal producer based in Sebastopol within Sonoma County, California. Recognized as a pioneer of the New California wine movement, the winery focuses on cool-climate coastal terroirs across Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. Pax champions a minimalist, old-world approach to vinification, utilizing whole-cluster fermentation, indigenous yeasts, and aging in neutral French oak and concrete tanks to preserve purity and freshness. The estate is widely celebrated for its benchmark, savory Syrah bottlings—such as the Sonoma-Hillsides and Alder Springs Vineyard designations—as well as dynamic, terroir-driven expressions of Gamay, Chenin Blanc, and heritage varieties.
🍇 Grape Varieties
Syrah
🍷 Alcohol By Volume (ABV)
12.5% - 13.5%