Terre Rouge Syrah Les Cotes de L'Ouest

Wine Information
This is the sixteenth vintage of our Les Côtes de l’Ouest Syrah. It is made from fruit grown (about 60% of the blend) at a superb vineyard site that is planted in the hills just west of the Amador County line, just a few miles from the Mokelumne River in Clements Hills (a new Lodi sub-appellation). Tight spacing, vertical trellising, and upward shoot positioning give the fruit maximum sun exposure to promote full flavor development. It is blended with our mountain Syrah (the remaining 40% of the blend) grown at several other sites. We chose theses sites because of their impeccable vineyard management (some of which we farm) and their flavor compatibility. The soils at the Clements Hills site are alluvium granite rock (Monpellier & Cometa) and the climate is moderated by Delta cooling. The other sites are a variety of volcanic and granite-based soil series that develop grapes with small cluster morphology. We find this wine is very forward and drinkable shortly after bottling, making it a great everyday Syrah, and perfect as a restaurant glass pour. This 2014 vintage has beautiful color with rich, silky, wild raspberry fruit flavors laced with pepper, sage, tar, and olive/herb tones. Aromas are raspberry, smoky, wild gamey, peppery, and cinnamon. The wine has a clean purity of Syrah fruit that is reminiscent of many St. Joseph’s and other Northern Rhone's. It has forward fruit flavors and great acid balance. It is very smooth and savory in the mouth. We harvested theses Syrah sites about normal in 2014 on the 12th and 13th of September at approximately 24.5 to 25.0˚ brix. The berry size was about normal in 2014, but we decided to co-ferment the Syrah with a bit of Viognier in each fermentor to finesse the wine. The grapes were lightly crushed and fermented in our larger tanks and irrigated to minimize tannin extraction and aged 17 months in 20% new and 80% used French oak barrels. The finished wine is 96% Syrah and 4% Viognier. It was bottled at the end of March in 2016 and given an additional two years in the bottle as part of its élevage. We think this is always one of the best bottles of Syrah on the market for around 20 bucks!