2023 Syrah
Syrah is an enigma to me. If you were to take a poll of wine lovers, it would be far from the most popular Vinifera varietal grown in Ontario. Yet mysteriously, year after year, it proves to be a brisk online seller for us and is usually among the first of our wines to sell out. Something is afoot here and I think I've got an idea.
I am convinced that there is an underground secret society of Syrah lovers in our midst. I picture them masquerading around wine circles as Gamay enthusiasts to throw people off their scent, but a faint trail of peppery musk betrays this facade. Hiding in plain sight, brilliant! There is an assumed risk in just mentioning this theory, but I feel it's my duty to shed light on this clandestine group and perhaps make an effort to join their ranks, that is providing they'll have me. On that note, if I were to disappear sometime this Spring, don't come looking for me.**
Growing Syrah in a cool climate is an epic, never-ending roller coaster ride filled with twists and turns, peaks and valleys, gradual climbs and steep falls. It's unpredictable, if anything, and makes you question the limits of your courage. For the record, roller coasters make me sick.
With the lowly yields of the previous vintage fresh in our minds, we crossed our fingers as the first Syrah buds of 2023 sprung to life. The countdown was on to see whether the new trunks we painstakingly established the previous summer were up to the task of supporting vegetative growth.
Early season conditions were ideal and our focus soon shifted to balancing the number of primary shoots on each new trunk. It can be difficult to summon the aggressiveness required when thinning these vigorous canes, especially the year after a light crop, but the alternative is a crowded and unruly canopy, a serious Syrah faux pas.
The rebound season stretched on through the summer months, with more than adequate precipitation to support the now thriving vines. It became apparent that we were dealing with a bumper crop of large-berried clusters, so extra attention was paid to achieving proper fruit exposure and cluster spacing to combat fungal growth. Thankfully, a relatively dry and cool September resulted in clean fruit - for once!
We finally hand-harvested our Syrah on October 27th, a full sixteen days later than the previous vintage. The fruit was destemmed whole berry into two bins. Following a three day cold soak, the bins began to ferment and we were off to the races. The whole berries helped moderate the temperature and extend the fermentation to seven days, with total skin contact time of twelve days. Both bins were gently pressed and then racked to French oak barrels (20% new) for maturation over the next two years.
The 2023 Syrah is aromatically pure, with components of ripe cherry, blackberry, mocha, vanilla and pepper. The palate showcases good balance and very supple tannins, perhaps due to the glycerolic texture derived from the whole berry fermentation. This wine trends toward "drink now" for me, but I will be laying some cases down to explore how it ages over the next decade.
**It occurs to me now that if you are reading these notes you probably are a member of this Syrah Secret Society...my apologies, enjoy your Gamay!