2013 Lytton Estate Syrah

A warm January with little rain started the season early. Water-stress reduced yields, yet produced grapes of amazing quality. Syrah and viognier co-fermented for five days. We selected two older vineyard parcels for their intensity, and a young parcel for its appealing fruit. After two years in barrel, the wine is wonderfully layered and rich. It will be enjoyable over the next seven to eight years.

At Lytton Springs West, Ridge has just over three acres of twenty-three year old syrah noir, the California selection from plantings in 1916, and three and a half acres of younger French clones. These parcels are situated in the well-drained Sites soil on the bench overlooking Norton Creek. Since 1996, we have produced limited amounts of syrah for the Advance Tasting Program (ATP). Over time, the consistent quality showed syrah to be well matched to the climate and soil of Lytton Estate. As in the past, the 2013 vintage was co-fermented with a small amount of viognier from an adjacent parcel. Following harvest, it was assembled, in blind tasting, from the most intense and distinct lots.

Rainfall: 24.5 (below average)
Bloom: Early to Mid-May
Weather: No rain mid-winter; warm spring with April rains that saved the season and a long, mild summer that ripened the grapes nicely.

Harvest Dates: 11 September
Grapes: Average brix 25.1˚
Fermentation: whole-berry, destemmed, not crushed, fermented in open-top tanks on indigenous yeast; pressed after five days; natural malolactic.
Barrels: 100% air-dried american oak barrels (48% new, 33% two years old, and 19% four to five years old).
Aging: 24 months in barrel

All estate grown grapes, hand-harvested; destemmed and whole berry fermented on the native yeasts, followed by full malolactic on the naturally-occurring bacteria; oak from barrel aging; 0.45g/L tartaric acid addition in three fermenters; minimum effective sulfur for this wine (30 ppm at crush, 130 ppm over the course of aging); pad filtered at bottling. In keeping with our philosophy of minimal intervention, this is the sum of our actions.

Average Rating: 90.9

No. of Tasting Notes: 50

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