2019 Syrah Eight Barrel

The Story: The first vintage of Eight Barrel Syrah was created in 1993 out of an inquisitive nature from our past winemaker, Daniel Gehrs. Typically, wines are made by crushing grapes, allowing fermentation, pressing the grape skins and stems – or pomace – to extract all juice, and then moving the wine into barrel for aging. Eight Barrel Syrah was crafted by first allowing the wine juice to freely run out of the fermentation tanks off the grape skins and stems without pressing the pomace to release trapped wine. Then, we allowed the remaining trapped juice to slowly drain overnight into a separate collection, gradually extracting deep color and flavor from the grape skins. The collected volume of wine from that first vintage filled just eight barrels, and so it was christened “Eight Barrel”, a new and distinct bottling of Syrah. The wine’s opulent style caused its cult following to grow each year, so we no longer produce only eight barrels of the wine. We do, however, keep the name as a nod to the eight barrels of wine that started our tradition. Eight Barrel has since evolved into one of our most sought after wines, offering a more hedonistic option to our Syrah offerings.

 

The 2019 Eight Barrel reflects the power and opulent style that is expected with this popular blend. Ripe muddled blueberries and boysenberries are front and center on the nose, supported by notes of fresh baked brioche and hints of iodine. The wine is lush with luxurious tannins focused on the front and middle of the palate, which are promising to become more and more plush over time. Flavors of plum and black fruit remain in the foreground, with pleasant white pepper spice in the background. This Syrah would go well with beef and mushroom stir fry, lamb burgers, and BBQ pork spareribs.