1999 Clos Mimi Shell Creek Vineyard Syrah

Harvested at 29.6° on the 17th of October, the 1999 Shell Creek Vineyard Syrah has been a "gamble" since day one. With a little less than one ton to work with in 1999, we decided to hang the fruit on the vine as long as potential alcohol-speaking possible. Next to 1998, this was the second coolest vintage of the nineties in Paso Robles. Due to the overcast conditions during floraison in 1998, we were rewarded with lower yields (eg. 4 tons/acre) in 1999. The 100% destemmed and foot-treaded fruit was macerated for 37 days (eg. pressed on the second full moon after picking) based on a fax answered by Mme. Bize-Leroy the same harvest. The wine completed its indigenous malolactic fermentation in barrel in May of 2000 before being racked barrel-to-barrel four separate times. The 1999 vintage was aged in 100% three-year-old Seguin Moreau barrels purchased directly from Château Margaux. Sadly, only 50 cases of the 1999 Shell Creek Vineyard Syrah were bottled 22 November 2002 (e.g. 36 months in barrel). Identical to our other vintages from this vineyard, the 1999 Clos Mimi was hand-bottled without fining and without filtration.