Starts at a 95 and after 4-5 hours hits a rock sold 100! Funny thing, if you like a pepper finish give it about 2 hrs, want the pepper to burn off give it closer to 5 hours. Licorice, coffee, mint and cherries with a long smooth basil and peppermint finish.

I loved the 2020 No 9 from barrel and this beauty does not disappoint from bottle. Based on 89% Syrah, 9% Mourvèdre, and the rest Viognier that was only 50% destemmed, it spent 22 months in 65% new French oak. A wine that demands lots of air to show at its best, it reveals a deep plum/purple hue as well as a brilliant bouquet of red, blue, and black fruits, ground pepper, iodine, crushed violets, and wild sagebrush. With incredible purity and precision aromatically, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a deep, layered, concentrated mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and a great finish. It's a big, rich wine from Binns, but if anything, it shows another level of finesse and stays light on its feet and graceful. This world-class Syrah will benefit from 3-5 years of bottle age and evolve nicely over the following two decades. It's clearly one of the wines of the vintage in Santa Barbara, if not one of the greatest 2020s in the state.

The 2020 No. 9 is a blend of 89% Syrah, 9% Mourvèdre and 2% Viognier. Grapes come from Andremily's new Slide Hill estate, plus White Hawk, Larner, Harrison-Clarke, Kimsey and Alta Mesa Vineyards in Santa Barbara County. It was vinified with 50% whole clusters and matured for around 22 months in 65% new French barriques. It's powerful and ripe yet detailed, offering a soaring expression that begins with dark fruit and soft meaty tones and, with time, blossoms with nuances of coffee beans, garrigue, star anise, sagebrush and dark chocolate. The full-bodied palate explodes with layer after layer of spicy, über concentrated fruit. It has a support of powdery tannins and vibrant acidity that highlights flashes of floral perfume and spice, and it calls you back to the glass with its long, nuanced finish. It deserves plenty of time in bottle to unwind. 890 cases and a few magnums were made.

The 2020 Andremily No. 9 is rich, ample and expansive on the palate. Succulent tannins wrap around a core of dark cherry/plum fruit, crème de cassis, chocolate, rose petal, cinnamon, new leather and cedar. The 2020 shows more overt fruit and textural opulence than the 2021 tasted alongside it. Now with an added year in bottle, the 2020 shows all the qualities I saw when it was a barrel sample. I especially admire its immediacy and lush, inviting personality.