The fruit for this wine is from two vineyards, one in
the northeastern portion of the Walla Walla Valley, near the Walla
Walla airport, in Palouse loess soils, and the other towards the
southeast, in Walla Walla silt loam soils. I did not want the grapes
to get overripe, so I picked them a bit early at the very end of
September. After the fruit was picked in the mid-morning, it was
destemmed into fermenters with the addition of enzymes that
increase color and aroma and a SO2
and ascorbic acid blend to
control oxidation. One third of the fruit was foot stomped for whole
cluster fermentation. After a day of soaking on the skins, I added
D254 yeast and malolactic bacteria on day four to ferment both
sugar and malic acid at the same time. The wine fermented for 7
days before being pressed to barrel to finish ML. Secondary
fermentation completed about a month later and SO2
was added to
protect the wine from oxidation and microbiological spoilage. The
wine was racked twice before being bottled on August 28th
, 2018 after crossflow filtration. The
wine saw 18% new American oak for 22 months.

100% Syrah, 71% Minnick Hills vineyard, block 4, clone 7.
29% Patina vineyard. 18% New American oak, aged for 22 months.