Spring Release Wild Mountainside Syrah
2019

Winemaker’s Notes

This 2019 is one of the greatest Syrah vintages of the last two decades, the wines poised, deep, and dramatic. Our Wild Mountainside is an exceptional offering blended from our two hillside vineyards, possessing an exotic wildness befitting its name, making it both playful and worthy of deeper contemplation. Its kaleidoscopic aromas and flavors seem to emanate from deep within the soil, the fruit purity counterpoised with the wilder feral elements that make coastal Syrah so compelling. Like our Pinots, the wine is fermented with 30% whole clusters, which really heightens the floral impact, generous texture, and exotic spicy character.

Complex aromatics soar from the glass: blueberry and cherry, violet and graphite, cocoa and lavender. Flavors of boysenberry and cassis dominate as the wine flows to a broad, supple center, with notes of anise, sweet tobacco, and cracked black peppercorn throughout. Tannins are chewy, broad and fine, framing the lovely interplay between brightness and power, the wine finishing with lingering notes of licorice and floral lift.

Drink between late 2021 and 2030. As this is an incredibly versatile wine, I recommend pairing it with rich stews or grilled meats. In its youth, the wine is best when decanted for an hour, and it is delicious the next day from a recorked partial bottle.

Andy Smith