Yribarren Family Vineyards 2016 San Joaquin River Syrah
Syrah is a black grape variety that most commonly makes medium to full-bodied dry red wine. Syrah is a big-bodied, dry red wine. Not only is Syrah flavor-packed, but it’s also one of the darkest colored inky wines you can find. Deep purple in hue with not much translucency, Syrah’s violet and velvety elegance is backed by big fruit and crunchy spice. This is a delightful wine that will please many that are still searching for a red to enjoy as well as those that have been enjoying their reds for some time. 
Pairing Syrah with Food.

Syrah starts out with a bit of a punch on the opening palate. As such, we don’t want to be eating food alongside Syrah that’s in any way bland. The first thing that comes to my mind is dry-rub brisket or well-seasoned pork, which is both juicy and savory. I like to think of Syrah as juicy, savory, and spicy — especially New World wines, where you experience black and blue fruit punch backed by tannin and cracked pepper spice. Yribarren Family Vineyards 2016 San Joaquin River Syrah provides those that have it in their glass the taste of delightful dark fruit, blackberry and a hint of dark chocolate, while not sweet the fruit make it very enjoyable and both those that are new to Syrah or red wines and those that have been enjoying them for some time will find very pleasant. 

Food Pairing: May I suggest, some roasted duck or quail. Don’t be afraid to utilize your spice cabinet. Syrah is ideal for holiday dinners where guests want deep flavor to match joyous conversation. Other Syrah food pairings we’ve had success with include: any pizza with meat on it, garlic mashed potatoes, grilled meats with dry rub, grilled veggies and venison.

Cheese: Cheddar, Edam, Gouda, Parmesan

Yribarren Family Vineyards is a small, award winning, family owned and operated winery in the heart of the Central Valley of California. The Yribarren family picks their grapes by hand and makes the wine in very small batches and minimal human interference so as to retain as much flavor as possible from the grapes. At the time of this post (July 2020) the winery has established a "by appointment arrangement" to pick up wine purchases. Like a number of California wineries that have decided to either limit the wines they will produce in 2020, or either skip the years harvest and wine production, Yribarren Family Vineyards will be concentrating their efforts their other family business Yribarren Family Farms.   Yribarren Family Farms has been growing high quality, organic watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, squash, bell peppers, heirloom tomatoes and more. Jeff and Wendy Yribarren also made the decision to start making wine with grapes from local vineyards. The winery is considered a labor of love by the family and they focus heavily on providing a quality, hand-made on the farm wine at a great value for the table. Last I checked with Windy there are about 400+ cases of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah and they are offering some excellent prices on these enjoyable wines even offer delivery with the purchase of a few bottles. Don't let the discount prices mislead you, these are great wines. I just had a Zoom wine tasting with some friends and the 2016 San Joaquin River Syrah was well receoved by all eight of us during the tasting. You can learn more about Yribarren Family Vineyards in our Winery Directory. I certainly look forward to Jeff and Wendy picking back up their winemaking efforts in the future.