♦ 2007 Durif– Santa Cruz Mountains ♦

Vineyard: Shepard Vineyard – Saratoga
Appellation: Santa Cruz Mountains
Wine: 100% Durif
Alcohol: 12.7%
Production: 62 cases




 

This vineyard is located on Mount Eden Road in Saratoga, just down the hill from Mount Eden Vineyards. It is on a very steep, shale-covered slope that looks like it just has to produce wines of great character – and that it does!

Although the vineyard is still rather young the wine produced from these vines has a lot of complexity and depth. It smells and tastes more like a Rhone wine from France than most other “Petite Sirahs” grown in California. The aroma has an intriguing element of aromatic wood smoke, smoked meats, black and white pepper and lots of bush berry fruit.

We are using a relatively new approach in fermenting our Durif. The variety is famous for over-extracting tannins, often making wines of great fruit intensity, but also commonly having a lot of astringency. Starting in 2005 we have gone to a method of whole berry fermentation of our Durif and Syrah and we are very excited about the results.

When the grapes are processed they are only de-stemmed, not crushed at all. We de-stem them into small, one ton lot, fermentation bins. By not crushing the berries we release fewer of the harsh tannins during fermentation. The whole berry process also spreads out the fermentation time as each berry kind of becomes its own little fermentation cell and it takes longer for the yeast to find all the sugar. We’ve found that these extended and very even fermentations tend to really develop aromatic complexity, something we’ve starting calling the “whoosh factor” in the aroma. It seems to emphasize the floral elements of the aroma, resulting in a touch of rose petal and/or lavender spice character.

This wine is still quite youthful and will certainly benefit from some decanting and breathing before serving for it to fully wake up.