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Wine Details
Price:
$20.00 per bottle
Description:
The Milbrandt Brothers, Butch and Jerry, manage a collection of vineyards on the warm Wahluke Slope in Eastern Washington. This wine is a blend of syrah from a very warm site, Clifton Vineyard, and a cooler site, Sundance Vineyard. Situated a few miles east of the town of Mattawa, Sundance vineyard crests a small plateau. This site is one of the cooler vineyards in an otherwise very warm region. The result is a site that receives large amounts of heat during the growing season, but finishes in the fall with large daily temperature differences. Harvest here is mid to late October, which gives an extremely long growing season. The incredible amount of "hang-time" coupled with the mid-season heat and impeccable vineyard management yields grapes of incredible intensity and ripeness. Clifton Vineyard is located northwest of the town of Mattawa on a slight southwest slope. Bud break, bloom and consequently harvest is very early. This creates jammy blackberry flavors and aromas mixed with white pepper.
Wow! This wine evokes images of the northern Rhone Valley. Here is a blend with all the cool climate characteristics for which Hermitage and Cote Rotie are famous, white pepper, blueberries, sauvage and violets. For a wine that is dark as this wine is, it displays a surprising amount of finesse. Careful blending yielded a wine with intense color and flavors, but also incredible balance. Loaded with the blueberry and anise character for which Sundance Vineyard is known coupled with jammy bramble fruits from Clifton.
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Varietal Definition
Syrah:
Syrah is the eight hundred pound gorilla of Rhone grapes! In the vineyard and the winery, Syrah is typically an easy grape to work with - healthy, early ripening, resistant to mildew and rot; suitable for winemaking in a variety of styles. The wines from Syrah are tannic without being harsh. The wines will have a taste and smell of dark blue fruit like blackberries and blackcurrant, with a strong spicy side where one can find freshly ground pepper and other spices. Syrah is famous for its part in the French blends, such as Côtes du Rhone and Châteauneuf du Pape.
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