2018 Sawyer Lindquist Tempranillo/Syrah Blend
This wine is 50% Tempranillo from the Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard (aka Slide Hill) in the Edna Valley, and 50% Syrah from the Bien Nacido Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley. Because the wine is from separate AVA’s and separate counties, we used the broader “Central Coast” AVA instead. We made a similar wine to this in 2016, which is just now really showing its stuff. And we really enjoy the collaboration of Tempranillo made by Louisa with Syrah made by Bob, and then blended by both of us!
2018 was an outstanding vintage in every way…great weather, balanced crops with nice intensity, and perfect ripening during Harvest. The Tempranillo was harvested on September 28th at 23.8° brix, 3.40 pH and 6.6 acidity. The Syrah was harvested on October 17th, also at 23.8°, with 3.51 pH and 7.1 acidity.
The two wines were fermented separately in small open top fermenters with native yeasts and manual punch downs. The Tempranillo was de-stemmed, the Syrah was fermented with 50% whole clusters. The wines were aged separately in French oak barrels, 33% new Ermitage for the Tempranillo, 50% new Francois Freres for the Syrah. Both wines were then racked, blended (but still kept varietally separate) and returned to neutral barrel for another 8 months, so about 20 months total in barrel.
About 6 weeks before bottling, we picked which barrels to use for this unique blend. Then racked again to blend, fined with organic egg whites, and bottled without filtration in August 2020.
This is a complex and special wine…taking advantage of the best characteristics of both varietals. Earthy, dark berry fruit and tannin from the Tempranillo is complimented by the spicy, and juicy richness of the Syrah. This wine is built to age well, but is totally enjoyable now. If you do decide to put some in the cellar, we’d recommend a good 8-12 years to be at its best!
Cheers,
Louisa Sawyer Lindquist and Bob Lindquist
April 2021
