"Dense ruby/purple with more earth, truffle, and graphite, in addition to copious quantities of black fruits, it is medium to full-bodied, rich in fruit... deep and well-made."
Rated 90-93 by Robert M. Parker, Jr.,
"The Wine Advocate"
Vineyard
Lee Hudson is one of the best grape farmers in California, very dedicated to quality, and honestly evaluates his work, always fine tuning, seeking higher ground. So when Lee called me in 2005 and said he had a newer block of Syrah that he thought might produce some of his vineyards best Syrah, I had no option but to say, "sign me up for as much as you can." Sadly, this amounted to a few rows, but they were in the rockiest part of the vineyard.
Most of the rows are planted to the Syrah Noir Clone, which has proven itself in many of California's cooler vineyard sights. A few rows are planted to the "Alban" Clone - propagated by Californian John Alban from cuttings off of many of the Rhone Valley's most celebrated Syrah planting. The two clones are planted right next to each other, share similar soils and of course climate, but taste different from grape to bottle - therefore we keep them separate.
Vintage
A warm spring lead to an early bud break, followed by a cool stretch bringing the vines back to a normal time-line for harvest. Syrah set was smaller than Cabernet Sauvignon and needed little thinning. In September, a ten day warm spell accelerated sugars and flavors - followed by four more weeks of "hang time" that brought flavors and sugars into harmony.
Winemaking
Great Syrah for us is the most labor intensive wine we make, the fruit has to be hand sorted to remove dehydrated berries. Most are 100% whole clustered fermentations, this means we ferment with stems intact clusters of grapes, which requires very labor intensive small lot fermentations. Sometimes we ferment with varying percentages of stems intact, the decision based on the maturity of stems and seeds. If the seeds are sweet and the stems brown, is it always closer to whole cluster, back breaking fermentations. After fermentation, the wine is pressed direct to small French Burgundy barrels. Our Syrahs are then aged with little racking for 21 months before bottling, unfiltered and unfined.
The Wine
Wow! This is the biggest, boldest Syrah I have made. It is the vineyard, it is the year, it is the winemaking - they all came together. It reminds me of a very big Hermitage, Syrah royalty. It has more of the bacon, smoke, Asian spice box than most new world Syrahs, the color is ink, opaque with palate coating flavors that go on forever. Yes, I like this wine, but do warn you it continues to get better with air. Please decant, and give it a few hours - and save a glass for the next day, if you can.