2015 Belden Barns Syrah

The “Biggest” wine in our portfolio, our 2015 Estate Syrah spent 27 months in barrel to achieve the balance we desire. Owning the varietal’s inky and sultry characteristics while maintaining a good bit of verve, this wine is a great alternative for those wanting a wine with substantial heft, but enough freshness to have you coming back for more. Ask a winemaker the conditions under which they would like to plant grapes for their dream wine, and they will point you toward a climate that sits right on the edge of getting their preferred varietal of grape ripe. This allows the fruit to hang on the vine late into the season, accumulating more and more flavor elements prior to reaching the threshold sugar content requiring the fruit to be harvested.
The grape varietal possessing this “on-the-edge” profile at our Belden Barns site is Syrah. In fact, the Bennett Valley side of Sonoma Mountain has built a cult-like following from Rhone wine enthusiasts – particularly those whose palate migrate to Northern Rhone. When we started the process of re-developing our vineyard ten years ago, the grape receiving the most pre-plant interest from highly respected winemakers was Syrah.