Vineyard Notes
The 2016 Syrah comes from Devil’s Canyon, otherwise known as Block 6. This block is planted on our steepest slope, containing nearly no topsoil and faces directly Southwest. While an unpleasant site to farm and harvest, it produces the most exhilarating fruit on our estate. After 4 consecutive years of extreme drought and warm temperatures, 2016 was an overall mild vintage. The less tortured vines responded with long ripening curves, producing beautifully ripened fruit and tannins.
Winemaker Notes
The Syrah for this vintage was de-stemmed and fermented in 3 ton open top concrete tanks. Twice daily pump-overs were performed until 70% completion of fermentation. We then, changed to gentle punch-downs to ease extraction of favors for a total of 21 days on skins. The tanks were pressed and 35% racked into a new French Orion barrels. The remaining 55% was aged in neutral French barrels. Aged for 20 months with no racking and topped exclusively with Estate Cabernet Sauvignon from the neighboring Block 7 to add a bit of structure to the incredible fruit mid-palate.
