1998 VIN DU SOLEIL - ROUGE

California

 

With this wine, a southern Rhone inspired blend of 66% Grenache, 17% Mourvedre, and 17% Syrah, we are trying to make sure each of the individual wines that make up the blend stands up on its own, and really contributes something special. While Syrah is relatively easy to grow, Mourvedre and Grenache require careful handling in the vineyard.

Grenache seems only to perform well when the crop is tiny, much like Pinot Noir. In 1998, the Grenache at Stolpman vineyard shattered terribly (the flowers did not pollinate, so the tiny berries fell off, causing the clusters to be small and scraggly). The wine made from this, although there wasn't much of it, was spectacular. The Mourvedre, also from Stolpman, wants to produce an enormous crop of huge clusters every year. We not only trim out clusters to control the crop but trim the individual clusters to a smaller size so that all the berries left will get more even sun exposure, and thus ripen more evenly. At harvest time, when the rest of the vineyard looked as though it was cropped out at about eight tons to the acre, our area had two. This gave us a dark wine with 'savage' aromas and a deliciously meaty mid palate. We chose Syrah from Thompson vineyard to give the wine a chocolate-y richness. The resultant wine is a delight! It has a wonderful mirabelle plum aroma, a spicy component and a luxurious sense of concentration without any hint of heaviness.