1998 California Syrah

CLINE CELLARS

TECHNICAL NOTES
1999 California Syrah

HARVEST DATE: Sept 10-Nov. 10, 1999
MEAN BRIX: 24.3
TOTAL ACIDITY: 0.62/100ml
FINAL pH: 3.69
RESIDUAL SUGAR: 3.67g/L
ALCOHOL: 13.6%
SUGGESTED RETAIL: $10.00
1999 California Syrah Label

California Syrah back label

VINTAGE NOTES

The last harvest of the millennium proved to be a year to remember. The 1999 harvest brought on both patience and courage. This harvest will go down in California's winemaking history as one of the latest and longest, with spring rains and cool weather pushing harvest back four to six weeks. Fortunately, Mother Nature began to cooperate in late September with a warming trend, thus ripening our vineyards to full maturity. Despite the lateness of the harvest, wines from various regions of the state showed a consistently forward fruit character and stunning acidity, giving our California Syrah its well-balanced personality.
VINEYARDS

With Syrah being planted in California only very recently, the grapes from this wine have come from generally very young vines with a range of age from four to fifteen years old. With vigorous selections in the vineyard, our growers in Lodi, Contra Costa and Sonoma County have produced fruit with exceptional concentration of varietal flavor with deep colors.Fruit from the much maligned and under-appreciated Lodi area had brought an explosive berry/cherry character to this Syrah. The sandy soils of Lodi and a microclimate only 30 miles from Oakley mirror many of the qualities that make the nearby Contra Costa County ideal for Syrah cultivation.

FERMENTATION AND AGING

Like our Zinfandels, the techniques we use on our "Cal Syrah" start out by entirely destemming and only lightly crushing the grapes to preserve fruit and limit harsh tannins. Then a cool to moderate fermentation temperature is maintained in closed stainless steel tanks with selected cultured yeasts. Aged in a variety of different sized oak vessels (from 1600 - 3000 gallon oak uprights, to 60 gallon barrels) for a minimum of nine to eleven months. We feel this allows our California Syrah enough time to marry the flavors and soften the diverse structures of all of our different Syrah vineyards. Blended with small quantities of Mourvèdre, Carignane, Grenache and Cinsault for increased fruit expression and elegance of structure. Bottled just before the succeeding vintage guarantees that we preserve the wonderful dark fruit flavors of the Syrah grape.

Comments to Cline Cellars and Winemaker
Comments to Tina Martin, Sales & Marketing Manager