2022 Bush Vine Syrah
Red WineOur Bush Vine block is a small 1-acre on two terraces at the foot of the mountain on the west side of our Estate Vineyard. It is trained in the bush vine (or gobelet) style because; 1. this type of trellising makes for naturally low yields and concentrated fruit flavour, and 2. the terraces are long and narrow, which makes traditional trellising and tractor work darn near impossible. The result is a wine that consistantly gives us delicious, juicy and concentrated Syrah that stands out amongst its peers.
TASTING NOTES:
The dark purple hue shows the intensity and leads to good spice and fruit balance. Although a big rich and structured wine right now, it will mature well and reward cellaring, powerful tannins give this wine excellent age ability. Rich and ripe, this Syrah has an aromatic nose of violets and cardamom with soft pepper followed by red currants, berry jam and cherries with a spicy finish. Graphite and black tea notes give it an amazing complexity.
WINEMAKING:
From our estate’s famed bush vines, the fruit is hand harvested (slowly and painfully as the bush vines are trained low to the ground). Then the grapes are destemmed but not crushed, and fermented in our wooden vat. Fermentation happens naturally and slowly, and the wine is pumped over for several weeks before being pressed off. The wine is transferred to 50% new French & Hungarian oak and aged for 18 months. The wine required no filtration and was only lightly sulphured at bottling.
WINEMAKERS COMMENTS:
Winter was long, spring even longer. Cold and wet all the way into July. Luckily for us, August showed up with aplomb. We had the warmest August on record in the South Okanagan, and it began a run of weather that “saved the vintage”. There was a 6 week stretch of near-perfect weather, and week by week we started to see the vines catch up and reach near-perfect maturity. Slowly but steadily each variety started to come into form and ripeness. Harvest lasted well into November. The wines are fantastic!
NOTES:
Production – only 276 cases produced
Alcohol – 13.0%
Varietals – 100% Syrah
Vinification – naturally fermented in large wooden vat, transferred to 50% new French and Hungarian oak for 18 months of aging, bottled unfiltered
Cellaring – can be cellared for 10-15 years