Description

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We farmed this field blend of Syrah & Viognier on a steep, rocky, 2-acre vineyard, about one mile up the hill from our home in Oregon House, California. 1900 feel elevation, decomposed volcanic rocks (red clay), planted in 2004. This is a brutally hot, un-fertile terroir, that typically yields one ton or less per acre (~15 H/H in Euro-speak). Counter-intuitively, this terroir creates a situation where the stressed vines “shut down” part way through the ripening process and – rather than a ‘hot’, super-ripe, thick, “hot-climate” kind of wine – the resulting wine is typically medium bodied, fresh, high in acidity, and super-concentrated, requiring many years of cellaring to open up and blossom through its vail of tannins.

2018 was the tenth vintage of our Stone Soup. If, based on reading the fact that it’s a co-ferment with 8% Viognier, you may think ‘Cote Rotie’ – think again. This has more structure and intensity than anything from that part of the Rhone Valley.

True to form, this wine is medium bodied, deeply flavored and concentrated, with a firm tannic structure and excellent natural acidity. This vintage is perhaps the most friendly in its youth to-date, showing density, texture, and fat, comfortably balancing its structure.

Similarly to its older siblings, this vintage has decades of life ahead of it, while offering great pleasure for current consumption.

92% Syrah, 8% Viognier           

Alcohol: 13.2%            Production: 97 cases