2007 SYRAH “CENTRAL COAST”
This wine is 98% Syrah and 2% Grenache from both Santa Barbara County (67%)
and San Luis Obispo County (33%). The breakdown of appellations is Santa
Ynez Valley (SYV) 33%, Santa Barbara County (SBC - not in an AVA) 30%, Santa
Maria Valley (SMV) 4%, Paso Robles (PR) 32%, and Edna valley (EV) 1% (first
crop off our new Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard). The vineyards used, in order of
percentage with their AVA, are (and only real wines geeks should read the
rest of this sentence): French Camp (PR); Mesa Verde (SYV); Los Alamos
(SBC); Chabot (SBC); Carriage (PR); Vogelzang (SYV); Bien Nacido (SMV);
Alisos (SBC); Windmill (SYV); Colson Canyon (SBC); Demetria (SYV); Nielson (SMV);
and Purisima Mountain (SYV)… that's 17 different vineyards from 5 different
AVA's!
The wine is essentially a blend of cool-climate Santa Barbara grapes and
warm-climate Paso Robles grapes. The cool-climate fruit gives spice, acidity
and balanced alcohol while the warm-climate fruit give softness, roundness,
ripeness and more up-front fruit flavors and aromas.
2007 was a fairly cool vintage, in general. The first grapes in this wine to
ripen were from French Camp on September 5th, the last were grenache from
the Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard on November 5th… that's two full months apart
for anyone keeping track! All of the lots were fermented separately, and
aged separately, at first, in mostly neutral French oak barrels (the percent
of new barrels would be less than 3%). The majority of the blend was made at
the first racking in March; the final blend was made before bottling in
August 2008. 20,500 cases of 750ml and 3000 cases of 375ml were produced.
