2016 Yellow Bird Vineyard Syrah
92% Syrah co-fermented with 8% Viognier
Lovely bouquet of violet, wild flowers, eucalyptus, and cassia bark. Notes of crushed granite, white pepper, and clove mix seamlessly with blackberry and blueberry. Expansive and concentrated but without overripe fruit and intrusive amounts of oak. The extra-long finish is driven by natural tannins and acidity.
Lovely bouquet of violet, wild flowers, eucalyptus, and cassia bark. Notes of crushed granite, white pepper, and clove mix seamlessly with blackberry and blueberry. Expansive and concentrated but without overripe fruit and intrusive amounts of oak. The extra-long finish is driven by natural tannins and acidity.
This wine will age fantastically well, easily over ten years from release. If you have the patience, hold for at least 2 years from release. Decant prior to enjoying.
Priced responsibly, we hope you’ll agree this wine drinks well above its price point.
Yellow Bird Vineyard, which is a high elevation vineyard that utilizes dry farming and sustainable farming practices produces fruit with extremely low yields (2 tons per acre), tiny berries, and sparse clusters. This plus warm days and cool nights helps create a Syrah with generous natural tannins and acidity resulting in a well-balanced wine that is complex, concentrated, and full-bodied but without overripe, flabby fruit and chunky tannins.
The fruit was harvested and sorted by hand in mid-September with about 50% of the fruit left as whole cluster. Feral primary and secondary fermentations were employed with only yeast hulls and oxygen used to aid fermentations. A 3-day cold soak was used as was extended maceration with the wine staying on skins for approximately 27 days. In 2016, I used extended barrel aging of 21 months (compared to 17 months in 2014) in all French oak, approximately 20% of which was new. The wine was never racked and remained on lees for all 21 months. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.
| Varietal Composition | 92% Syrah co-fermented with 8% Viognier |
| Appellation | Walla Walla Valley |
| Vineyard | Yellow Bird Vineyard |
| Acid | 5.3 g/L |
| PH | 3.9 |
| Aging | 21 months in French Oak |
| Alcohol | 14.70% |
| Volume | 750 ml |
| Bottling Date | 07/02/2018 |
| Cases Produced | 180 |
High atop the foothills of the Blue Mountains sits Yellow Bird Vineyard. Owned by the Chan family and farmed by the venerable Kenny Hart, the vineyard is dry farmed and uses sustainable farming practices. Deep Loess soil with excellent drainage. The blocks we use sit at 1,400 feet in elevation. The high elevation and naturally struggling vines produce fruit with great depth and concentration. Both the clones have tiny berries and sparse clusters - ugly by a commercial producers standpoint but beautiful from ours. These tiny berries create wine with firm natural tannins and black-opaque color.
