2002 Clos Mimi White Hawk Vineyard

Clos Mimi's only wine from the 2002 vintage comes from "white hawk vineyard," a vineyard containing 15-45% slopes located 18 miles from the winery. Jeff Newton planted this vineyard in 1998 on ancient sand dunes. Jeff farmed "white hawk" from 1998 thru 2002 and Clos Mimi had been on the waiting list for these grapes since 2000. The soil at "white hawk" is pure sand deposited over soft sandstone. The climate here is very cool thanks to the vineyard's proximity to the Pacific Ocean and Point Conception. Clos Mimi purchased grapes from a 1.29-acre block. Here vines are planted 5 feet apart. This block is planted with the UCD#6 clone of syrah on 140Ru. In 2002 yields were 25.6 hectoliters per hectare (1.64 tons per acre). Harvest was the 29th of October. Sugar content in the grapes was 24.0° brix. The grapes were 100% destemmed. The grapes were 100% treaded by foot. The wine was fermented with 100% indigenous yeasts. Total maceration was 51 days exactly two full moons after harvest. The wine was racked barrel-to-barrel one time on the summer solstice in 2003. Greatly inspired by Guigal's La Landonne, the 2002 Clos Mimi "white hawk vineyard" is my first syrah to spend 42 months in barrel and my first syrah to be aged in 100% new Seguin Moreau barrels. The wine was never pumped, acidulated, fined or filtered. The wine was bottled by hand via gravity on Clos Mimi's own equipment. There is no press wine in the bottle. Alcohol content is 14.5%. 100% syrah. Total production is 90 cases.