Palate
Both savory and sweet, it displays lovely depth and density, with vivid floral, black
raspberry, beach smoke and baking spice notes. In both the nose and on the palate, the syrah
brings lush red fruit, with deep raspberry and black cherry layers. The cabernet adds hightoned floral elements and substantial mid-palate weight, as well as blackberry, currant and
olive flavors, with the mourvèdre contributing to the wine’s tannic structure and spice elements
of cinnamon, nutmeg and white pepper. The long, harmonious finish is impeccably balanced
by the wine’s signature minerality.
Growing Conditions
2012 was an exceptional vintage, providing ideal weather at every stage
of development. Spring was cool to temperate, with almost all of the rain falling in May and
June. July and August were dry, with beautiful weather and no extreme heat events. In the runup to harvest we had temperatures in the 65º to 70º range, allowing us to pick each variety
exactly when we wanted, with a perfect balance of sugar and acid.
Harvest
We harvested our Joseph
Phelps clone syrah on September 26th and October 5th, while our clone 174 syrah was picked
on September 29th. Our cabernet was harvested on October 20th, and our mourvèdre arrived
at the winery on October 23rd.
Bottling
April 2014.
Winemaking
Grapes were harvested by hand and hand-sorted on shaker tables, with gravity
transfer to tank. 50% of the syrah was fermented whole cluster. The other half of the syrah was
destemmed, as were the cabernet and mourvèdre. All fermentations were native yeast: the
syrah fermentation lasted 12 days, the mourvèdre 14 and the cabernet 15. The ferments were
kept cool, and only free-run wine was used.
Aging
The lees were excellent, so we aged the wines
with them in neutral puncheons and barrels. Cellaring lasted 19 months, with no new oak, and
the wines were blended two months prior to bottling.
