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Wine Details
Price:
$48.00 per bottle
Description:
Many visitors who tour our winery seem surprised to learn that one-half of the facility is given over to the production of varietal Syrah, despite the fact that this grape variety comprises less than 10% of our annual production. To make Syrah properly, winemaker Ehren Jordan insisted, we needed small, open-top tanks for whole-cluster delivery and manual punch-down capability -- and we needed enough of them for extended maceration. We created, in effect, a miniature replica of a Northern Rhône winery. It takes up over half of our processing space. That design decision has proven to be even more valuable now that we produce this unique bottling of Syrah: it’s a traditionally made Cuvée that takes our Northern Rhône ideals one step further by utilizing winemaking practices far more common in Cornas, Côte-Rôtie or Hermitage a hundred years ago. We use all of the stems here, and add no sulfur dioxide until bottling. The wine is not racked, since we don’t want to introduce any oxygen during the aging process, and the yeast lees are stirred regularly. For all these reasons, it’s high-risk winemaking, with great rewards.
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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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