2018 Anita Syrah
92% Syrah co-fermented with 8% Viognier
A bright bouquet of violets, wet stone, and pencil shavings. Full-bodied and concentrated, yet balanced and structured. Blackberry and plum fruit with savory tones of charcuterie, iodine, black olive, and clove. Ample tannins without being overpowering. A rich, velvety, and generous finish elevated with lively natural acidity.
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.
A bright bouquet of violets, wet stone, and pencil shavings. Full-bodied and concentrated, yet balanced and structured. Blackberry and plum fruit with savory tones of charcuterie, iodine, black olive, and clove. Ample tannins without being overpowering. A rich, velvety, and generous finish elevated with lively natural acidity.
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.
This wine, in honor of Cheryl’s mother Anita Villalobos, is made from 100% Yellow Bird Vineyard fruit. Yellow Bird Vineyard, which is a high elevation vineyard that utilizes dry farming and sustainable farming practices produces fruit with extremely low yields (2.5 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.
The fruit was harvested and sorted by hand in mid September with about 100% 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 24 days. In 2018, we used extended barrel aging of 20 months in all French oak, approximately 40% of which was new. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.
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.
