Harvest
100% Syrah, Patina vineyard, block 2. 20% New French oak,
aged for 18 months.
Bottling
In 2015, we sourced our Syrah from Patina
Vineyard, because our normal block of Syrah had suffered freeze
damage over the winter. This “Nox Eternelle” designated Syrah is bold
and lush, offering ample blueberry, ripe plum, cherry, and chocolate on
the nose. Those aromatics blend with plum, blackberry, tobacco, and
bacon fat on the palate. Complex and full in flavor, with an acidic
backbone and a touch of white pepper, this wine will delight the lover
of Australian Shiraz. 3.64 pH and 6.7 g/L of titratable acidity. Drink
now through 2030. 20% new oak.
Winemaking
The 2015 vintage was a hot and dry one. We
experienced very little rainfall in the Walla Walla Valley, and we
experienced nearly two consecutive weeks over 110 degrees. The fruit
for this Syrah is southeast of Walla Walla, with a shallow watertable,
which means it has been dry farmed for over 20 years! It is a meatier,
bolder Syrah compared to our Minnick Hills Vineyard Syrah. When
harvested, the grapes were ready to be picked at nearly perfect juice
chemistry at the beginning of October, the grapes were destemmed
with the use of enzymes for settling and juice extraction and an
ascorbic acid, SO2
, and tannin blend to control oxygen contact. The
wine was fermented with D254 yeast in an open top fermenter topping
out at a temperature in the low 90s. The wine was coinnoculated for
ML and fermented to dryness and pressed off the skins to tank. A day
later, the wine was moved to barrels to complete ML. Total time: 9
days in fermentation. After secondary fermentation was complete, SO2
was added. The wine was racked off the lees after nine months and
was racked only three times. The wine was crossflow filtered before bottling and went to bottle
on April 3rd
, 2017. 20% new oak for 18 months.
