cropthreash


Handmade wines since 1983.

 

 

 

2008 SYRAH SOLOMON HILLS
Santa María Valley, California

This is the first crop and our first vintage of syrah from a tiny half-acre plot planted in 2005 at super cool Solomon Hills Vineyard. This vineyard works well with early ripening pinot noir and chardonnay, but it was a real stretch to imagine ripening syrah here. However, Santa Barbara County’s mild fall weather allowed us to wait until November for harvest, so we were able to pick at full ripeness in 2008. The syrah from this spot is decidedly different than any other California syrah I have worked with. It shows off an exotic spicy, bacon-y, earthy personality, along with lots of berry fruitiness. This is a big bodied syrah that is also fresh, open and delicious to drink today! Bottled after aging 16 months in older French oak barrels, the wine was neither fined nor filtered.

46 cases were produced.