Vineyard Notes
The 2017 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. This vintage produced ideal Paso Robles conditions of decent winter rainfall, gentle spring for flowering and ample fruit set followed by warm but not overly hot summer to gently yet thoroughly ripen the fruit.
Winemaker Notes
The Syrah for this vintage was de-stemmed and fermented in 4 ton open top concrete tanks. Twice daily pump over were performed until 70% completion of fermentation. We then changed to gentle punch downs to ease extraction of flavors for a total of 17 days on skins. The tanks were pressed and 35% racked into a new French Orion barrel. The remaining 65% 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.
