2017 “EL DUENDE” JEMROSE VINEYARD BENNETT VALLEY SYRAHDescription:
Our Jemrose Syrah is a lovely structured and layered wine that continues to evolve as you enjoy it.  The wine is elegant and rich on the palate but finishes strong with fine tannins that go on and on.  This wine is delicious now but will continue to improve for at least a decade.

Vineyard:
The Jemrose vineyard is a vineyard planted at the base of Bennett Peak in the cool Bennett Valley AVA.  The soils are a mix of weathered Spreckels, rocky clay loam and red iron rich volcanic soil spilled down from Bennett Peak above.  The Syrah clone is 383 which has small berries that ripen very slowly.  This results in low yields but concentrated wines with great structure and bright acidity.

Harvest 2017:
We are very fortunate that we were able to make this wine at all this vintage. The 2017 harvest was an exceptionally warm one. We usually don’t pick this wine until late October. Lucky for us, we picked it on October 3rd, because several fires roared through wine country four days later. A section of the Nuns fire called the Adobe fire, entered Bennett Valley from Sonoma Valley, and burned the ground all around Jemrose vineyards. Our winery in Santa Rosa was shut down as the Tubbs fire burned many of the surrounding buildings including the nearby Coffee Park neighborhood. We were able to ferment this wine by sneaking through roadblocks for five days and using headlamps to see in the cellar. The fact that we made such an outstanding wine is a testament to how excellent the fruit is as well as a good helping of luck.

Chemistry:
pH:  3.78
TA:   5.7
Alc:  14.9%
RS:   dry: 0.01 %

Fermentation and aging:
Destemmed to tank and allowed to cold soak for 5 days before fermenting.  Only native yeasts were used.  Only manual punchdowns were done on the cap during fermentation.  No pump-overs were done on this wine.  Total time in tank was 15 days.  The free run was drained and transferred to French Oak barrels (67% new).  Malolactic occurred naturally in barrel.  The wine was aged for 15 months in barrel and racked gently before bottling.  The wine was bottled without fining or filtering.

Harvest Date:
October 3rd, 2017

Cases Produced:
124 cases

Tons Harvested:
2.94 tons

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