Profoundly aromatic with notes of blackberry, all spice and California bay, the 2015 Hawks Butte offers a harmonious blend of blackberry, cocoa and cracked white peppercorn flavors.  Aged entirely in neutral French oak barrels, the Syrah's varietal characteristics shine without the added weight of new wood flavors and barrel tannins.  Whole cluster fermentation allows the wine to obtain additional tannic structure from the stems, resulting in an aromatically expressive wine with round tannins on the mid palate and a long, smooth finish.