Our family lives by a creed. “We live to honor those that have come before us, and to prepare the way for those yet to come.” No one lived this to the point of conviction as our Uncle John Saarloos. John Saarloos paid the ultimate price for freedom in WWII as many did, and received the Purple Heart. We could find no more fitting title for our Syrah that is so close to our heart than to remember John forever by naming it after him. We The Saarloos’ are a dutch family, and it seemed fitting to Honor those that have come before us in the Dutch language.

   You see, as we have a wine with a single estate vineyard vertical we have a label with one person. We do this because when you are alone you have a different personality than when you are with others.

Review By: Matthew J. Kaner

Opened at 55 degrees - the first sip of this wine makes you second guess the information on the label...it says Santa Barbara but you'll swear it tastes like France!  The Windmill Ranch Vineyard where the Syrah for this wine is grown is like a slice of Cote-Rotie (a famous Syrah growing region in the Northern Rhone Valley of France) in California.  I was blown away by the soil and the vine layout when I first visited the vineyard.  The Saarloos family are natural born farmers...it is said that wine is made in the vineyard, and their efforts in the vineyard translate directly into the bottle.  Purper Hart is 100% Syrah: meaty, peppery, medium bodied but packing a punch of complexity.

DECANT this wine for at least 20-30 minutes before you enjoy it.

*unless you are opening it in the year 2011 or beyond, in which case it will be perfect out of the bottle*

Vineyard: SAARLOOS&sons Estate Vineyard

                Windmill Ranch

Farming Company:

           SAARLOOS&sons Farming Operation

Vineyard Bloc: Terraces (the BROTHERS)

Vine: 877

Harvested: 2006

Tonnage: 5.32

Total Gallons: 825.10

Barrel Age: 2 Year

Bottle Age: 1 Year   

Total Cases: 347

Background: “we live to honor those that have come before us, and to prepare the way for those yet to come”