2020 Syrah

Fair Play

Tasting Notes

This Côte Rotie inspired Syrah offers up raspberry, black currant, violet, and chocolate along with savory hints of olive, bacon fat, and white pepper. It is bold and precise, with fine-grained tannins and juicy raspberry flavors. This expressive wine will age gracefully through 2030.

Winemaking Notes

For this wine we picked syrah that had afternoon shade, so the skins didn’t have any sunburn, and the ripening was prolonged.

We added 30% of the syrah as whole clusters to the bottom of the fermenter, along with whole cluster viognier. By placing the whole clusters on the bottom of the fermenter we induced carbonic maceration of the fruit and brought forward soft fruit and tropical flavors. The combination of red and white skins bound the color and enhanced the nose of the wine simultaneously. The remaining 70% of the syrah we destemmed but kept as whole berries and added that on top of the whole clusters in tank.

We ran the fermentation a little warm to give the wine depth and structure from the increased extraction that causes, and then pressed the wine lightly to barrel to age.

Aging

We aged this wine in a blend of 50% new medium and medium plus toasted French oak barrels for 29 months. This is true to the origins of Côte Rotie and helps this to be a truly age worthy wine. 

Food Pairing

A wine of this style will pair beautifully with cassoulet, beef brisket, venison, duck, beef stroganoff, lamb chops or roasted lamb, and rabbit. Barbecued red meats will pair well, making this a great wine for cookouts, as will rich casseroles.

Wine Specs

80% Syrah, 20% Viognier

14% alcohol

170 cases produced