Petite Sirah, 2016

A vivid and well-balanced wine, with a clean fresh nose of mint and cherries, full aromas of red currants, morello cherries, cardamom, nutmeg and cloves, and a long superb soft finish, this artisanal wine brings out the pure fruit flavors of our Petite Sirah grape.

The year of 2016 followed the typical Mendocino weather patterns, with a cool early spring with scattered rains. May warmed up the vineyard and we got several heat waves over the summer. We had minimal rain throughout the season but the dry-farmed vineyard handled the heat beautifully, as we didn’t till and we left the cover crop to protect the soil until late summer. Harvest took place on September 18 with smaller yields than usual, but the quality of the fruit was superb.

We timed the harvest to obtain the best balance of flavors in the wine. The fruit was carefully hand-picked and delivered to the winery in the cool early hours of the day, hand-sorted, and fermented in small bins using only wild yeasts from the vineyard to preserve the beautiful character of the terroir. The wine was then aged in neutral French oak barrels for 2 years prior to bottling. Our winemaking philosophy is to enhance the terroir and varietal characters by using minimal intervention traditional and natural winemaking techniques. Our low production volume allows us to track and nurture each barrel of wine. Alcohol 14.4%, pH 3.65, Acidity 6.1g/L, Residual Sugar 0.2g/L.

Only 450 cases produced.