Blend: 52% Syrah / 48% Cabernet Sauvignon
Analysis:
Alcohol: 14.9% | pH: 3.97 | Titratable Acidity (as tartaric acid): 7.35 g/L
Bottling Date: July 21, 2011
Cellaring: 5 - 10 years
Tasting Notes:
A deep, dark, brooding wine, this blend of Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon captures the best of both varieties. The nose is bold and intense with ripe blackberry, plum and cassis supported by vanilla, coffee, chocolate and oak notes. The palate is full with balanced acid and tannin and flavours of pepper, blueberry and clove from the Syrah with the rigid backbone, cassis and pipe tobacco notes of the Cabernet Sauvignon. Together they finish on a long, structured palate that has the intensity to mature for the best part of a decade. Pair this with a pepper crusted rib-eye steak or seasonal game meats. ~ Rhys Pender, Master of Wine
Wine Making:
The Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes used in making this blend where some of the last grapes to be hand-picked during the 2009 harvest season at the end of October 2009 from 2 different parcels at Burrowing Owl Vineyards on Black Sage Road in Oliver, B.C.. The grapes where hand sorted, de-stemmed and lightly crushed into the tank. The two different varietals where co-fermented on their skins for 15 to 20 days and left for another few days for post-ferment maceration. After a total of 25 days on the skins, the wine was drained and the skins pressed off. The wine underwent a secondary ferment in barrel, and was then aged for 16 months in a selection of French and American oak barrels.
