MacLaren Wine
Steve Law drove south of Lyon out of a Paris tech job, tasted Saint-Joseph and Cote-Rotie, and decided to make cool-climate Syrah in a county that plants Pinot Noir. He pours it himself at the Kenwood cottage for $50.1
Why go
Law is a Scot who spent his twenties in a tech career in Paris and worked through Burgundy, Bordeaux, the Loire and Provence before the northern Rhone settled it.1 The Rhone vigneron Yves Cuilleron befriended him and advised him.1 Michael Talty of Talty Vineyards in Dry Creek gave him his first winery job in 2006, and he made the first MacLaren Syrah in Talty's cellar in 2007.1 He and his wife Heather founded the label together.1
He buys fruit from fog-influenced Sonoma sites, chiefly in the Russian River and Bennett valleys, and the single-vineyard Syrahs are the core.1 There is Viognier, Roussanne, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir alongside.1 The stated aim is balanced, low in alcohol and made to eat with.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: a single-vineyard Syrah. It is the grape the label exists for and he says so plainly.1
- Order: the Signature Tasting at $50, which is free for club members and a limited number of their guests.1
- Avoid: dropping in. Booking goes through a form on the winery's own site, not a platform.1
What locals & experts say
- Steve Law, on the name:
MacLaren is my clan name. In Scotland your clan defines the tartan of your kilt and ties you to a region and community, to a group of people with a common thread.
1 - Law, on the grape:
I don't really follow the trends. Whether it's fashionable or not, Syrah is my favorite grape, and that's why I'm making it.
1
Good to know
- Steve Law hosts the tasting himself. The winery says so on its own experiences page, and it is the reason to book this one rather than a bigger room down the road.1
- There are virtual tastings over Zoom if you cannot get to Kenwood.1
- No hours are published, and no duration, dog or child policy either.
- Nobody outside the winery has written about these wines in anything I could read.
Verdict
could-visit — Yves Cuilleron advised him, Michael Talty gave him a cellar and a first harvest in 2007, and Law has bought fog-influenced fruit from the Russian River and Bennett valleys ever since. The single-vineyard Syrahs are the core and he keeps the alcohol low on purpose, aiming at something you can drink with dinner. He is also the one behind the bar, which is the reason to book this over a bigger room. The catch is that his own site is the only account of any of it: no writer has been, and there are no hours published to plan around.