Analysis:
Alcohol: 14.5% | PH: 3.76 | Titratable acidity: 6.44 g/L
Bottling Date: April 2015
Cellaring: 5+ years
Tasting Notes:
Delicate and elegant, the 2013 Syrah opens on a deep and harmonious nose of violet, warm and treacly black fruits meshed together with tobacco, cocoa, wood spice and black pepper. On the palate the wine progresses smoothly with flavours of damson plum, blackberry, baked strawberry followed by tobacco, clove, vanilla, licorice and leathery undertones. The mid-palate is fleshy and flavourful, with ripe, velvety tannins. It is balanced by a juicy acidity and ends in a long fruity, smoky and spicy finish.
This wine is approachable and age worthy. Try it with pork tenderloin stuffed with garlic and local brambly fruit puree or with a bacon-wrapped and prune-stuffed quail.
Wine Making:
The 2013 early spring allowed for an even bud break, flowering and fruit set. Summer heat ripened the grapes nicely and the cool autumn provided conditions for the acidity to be retained giving the wines a lively freshness to balance the ripe fruit.
The Syrah grapes were harvested by hand on October 24th from our vineyard on Black Sage and on November 5th from our vineyard in Osoyoos. They were hand sorted, destemmed and slightly crushed before being dropped by gravity into the tank for fermentation.
After completion the wine was given time to settle on its skins for further extraction. The juice was then pressed off and moved into barrels to allow for the malolactic fermentation. Then it was aged for 18 months in a combination of barrels selected for their ability to enrich the natural flavor profile of the wine with hints of woodsy, spicy and vanillin undertones.
Racked off its lees several times during its ageing, the wine was bottle unfiltered.
Ageing: 82% French, 13% American, 5% Hungarian with 53% new oak
