1999 Étiquette Bleue

In the tradition of our 1997 Clos Mimi Étiquette Rouge late-harvest Syrah, less than a half-ton of fruit was harvested at 36.6° the 24th of September from Bunny Slope Vineyard in 1999. While the intent was to produce our first Bunny Slope Vineyard Syrah in 1999, PG & E (hence one of the inspirations behind the "blue label") had bigger plans for Clos Mimi by disconnecting electricity service to the irrigation system for two weeks in the middle of September. What started as two tons of beautifully-thinned 26° fruit per acre of high density Estrella clone Syrah quickly puckered into the abyss of stickiness. After 21 days of skin contact, rigorous treading by foot in a very Portuguese fashion and coping with a pregnant wife beginning her third trimester for the first time, I pressed the wine into a brand new 100L Seguin Moreau "Center of France" baby barrel more for curiosity and convenience than anything else. Indigenous malolactic finished in barrel in July of 2000. Three springs and four rackings later, this Sauternes-style dessert wine possessed almost 13% alcohol and 155 g/L of residual sugar (compared to 15.6% alcohol and 15 g/L residual sugar in the 1997 "red label"). Ultimately, the wine spent 36 months in 100% new oak before bottling in the fall of 2002. A microscopic 25 cases of the 1999 Étiquette Bleue was hand-bottled without fining and without filtration in our first 375mL format exclusively.

Bunny Slope Vineyard 24 September 1999	Harvesting 0.45 ton off one acre (eg. 0.6 lb per vine)