Wine Future Offereing - June 2008 Release

The 2006 Ampelos Vineyard Syrah is again the thick, chewy, deep and the most primary syrah of the vintage. It has no new oak, yet gobs of tannin. The best designated syrah of the vintage. Only five barrels of this wine were made from third year fruit. This powerful wine is balanced, dark and complete. Made using two new French and three older French oak barrels. (126 cases produced)

• This is our third vintage of wine from this promising new vineyard.
• This is Syrah from the sandy loam of Peter and Rebecca Work’s hillside planting in the Santa Rita Hills appellation. This vineyard will be a force in the years to come – watch out for it.
• Ampelos Vineyard harvested October 27th at 25.8 brix, 3.6 pH, 1.8 TPA.
• The fruit was stemmed but not crushed. Intact, whole berries were placed in small bin boxes for fermentation.
• Inoculated with RC212 and Williams-Selyem yeast.
• Fermented on the skins for 14 days as individual lots in small bin boxes after a 48 hour cold soak.
• Made using two new French and three older French oak barrels.
• Went through ML fermentation, completing in March.
• Racked in July, and again prior to bottling.
• Unfined and lightly filtered.
• Bottled in August 2007.

Food Pairing: This is a highly flavored wine which works well with similarly flavorful food. Try dark sauces, even some with dark fruit. Makes a great reduction sauce. Try spiced or BBQ pork, lamb, or beef. Slow roasted short-ribs in syrah reduction cannot be beat. Seared, spiced Ahi is a favorite, as is smoked salmon.

Retail Price $42.00