Syrah 2021

Appellation:

Shenandoah Valley

Winemaker Notes:

We harvested by hand on October 4, 2020 at a Brix of 29.5 and pH 4.0, waiting patiently for the flavors to fully express at higher sugar. We first crushed and de-stemmed the grapes, then cool fermented after inoculating with a special yeast we choose to enhance mouthfeel and bring out typical aromas of raspberries, strawberries, black pepper, cassis and violets. Fermentation lasted about 2 weeks and then we did a secondary ML fermentation. A subtle infusion of French medium toast oak was applied and the wine was aged nearly two years before bottling in March 2022.

Vineyard Notes:

We did much research to track down the rarely found French clone of Syrah (877 a high quality clone originally from France) in the Sierra foothills at altitude. It turns out some were growing literally right next door at the Chapman Vineyard in Amador County. The 15-acre vineyard was planted in the 1990s and sits at an elevation of 2,000 feet like La Mesa with a gentle hillside slope. It has the same excellent sun exposure and gentle breezes as our own vineyards here at La Mesa. The vineyard produces a stereotypical Sierra Foothills Syrah – excellent fruit structure paired with soil minerality.

As we worked with this French clone with fantastic highly-sought after fruit literally growing so well in our own backyard, we knew it should be possible to grow it on our estate. We grafted the 877 Syrah clone onto some of our older original vineyard vines immediately in front of the tasting room. We chose this clone for making wines that pair exceptionally well with food. The grafts were very successful and we had our first harvest in 2021.