2022 Syrah
This appealing and unique Syrah shows wonderful plum-like fruit mingled with pepper and mocha accents on the finish. I adore this wine's lovely garnet color, and it’s easy to smell dark red fruit aromas that jump from the glass with each swirl. This wine gives aromas of chocolate-covered plums, blackberries, violets, and campfire cookout. It’s really a classic example of a Rhone style wine. The alcohol is balanced with good acidity and a lingering fresh finish. The wine has an exceptional feel and is medium to heavy bodied. I get black fruit on the palate, along with black coffee, ground pepper, and candy caramel flavors. You may also find a pleasant note of pomegranate and cedar. This wine will reach its peak six years from bottling. I’m interested to see the fruit evolve with proper bottle age. However, I’d stock up on this wine now….392 cases will sell fast!
Fermentation was split into two sections, with most of the fruit fermenting in a 4,500-gallon stainless tank and an additional 2 tons open-top fermenting in 500L Hungarian Oak barrels. I love using both fermentation styles. The tank provides clean and bright bouquets post fermentation. The barrels create a smokey composition and rich textures. The first few days of crush we all noticed the pure dark color of the juice. Fermentation was steady and even, and the wine was dry and complete by October 8, 2022. At this point, we drained the “free run” wine and pressed the skins, then settled the new wine in a tank. We barreled it down in strictly 500L barrels; 4 new 500L Hungarian barrels were used, with an additional 12 barrels being a mix of French, Hungarian, and American. The new barrels were set to be used in our Statuesque blend, and the used barrels were split between our Mega Focus blend and this 100% Syrah. The wine aged for a perfect 14 months in barrel.Both vineyards were hand harvested overnight and the grapes were delivered at daybreak. We elected not to crush the grapes at all, simply destemming the grapes and therefore fermenting the grapes whole-berry intact. The must was cold soaked for 24 hours at a chilling 40 degrees, then on the second day the juice was warmed up to 55 degrees so that fermentation could begin. Eugene’s Syrah was fermented part in stainless steel tank and part in brand new 500L Hungarian Oak barrels. This distinctive barrel fermentation traps the wine’s rich color and adds to the dense and full-bodied mouthfeel. Frankel Vineyard’s Syrah was fermented in a 1-ton food grade macro bin and was allowed to heat up to 85 degrees at the peak of fermentation. Therefore, the Frankel Vineyards Syrah has an element of cooked berry jam and BBQ. We used three different yeast strains to ferment this wine, each yeast strain gives the wine unique attributes and adds to the overall complexity. The wine aged in all neutral barrels and was bottled after a total of 14 months of total barrel age.
| Download Wine Notes |
| Vintage | 2022 |
| Varietal | 100% Syrah |
| Appellation | Paso Robles |
| Vineyard | Frankel Family Estate & Eugene Alonso |
| Acid | 0.64 g/100 ml |
| PH | 3.74 |
| Residual Sugar | 0.01 g/100 ml |
| Alcohol | 14.20% |
| Volume | 750 ml |
| Bottling Date | 12/13/2023 |
| Cases Produced | 448 |
This 100% Syrah wine is grown on Eugene Alonso’s vineyard, off Penman Springs Road, and just half a mile down the road from our tasting room. With 10 acres, this vineyard has the potential to bear a large crop, but the last few years have yielded small tonnage. 2022 yielded 17 tons, only 1.7 tons per acre. The soils are calcareous clay and contain rocky sections towards the top of the ridge. 2022 was the scariest harvest from this vineyard I’ve experienced! We harvested the grapes by hand right before a 1 inch rain downpour. We raced against the clock and completed the harvest. We hauled all 30+ bins to the winery before the rain fell. We destemmed and crushed the grapes starting at 5 am Monday morning with rain pouring down on the building, I was VERY relieved we got this picked in the nick of time!
