2003 Clos Mimi Brave Oak Vineyard

Overlooking the Estrella River, "brave oak" is exactly 4 miles north of highway 46 east and 4 miles east of "bunny slope" and 2 miles north of the Paso Robles airport. This remarkable vineyard is owned and farmed by Tony Domingos, a young vineyard maverick raised in Santa Maria whom I met in 1994 while working for Bob Steinhauer and Meridian Vineyards. With two rows of vines per terrace "brave oak" is planted with 1,922 vines per acre, which is very rare for Paso Robles. Vines are planted 3.5 feet apart. The 1.08-acre block has a north-south row orientation. The 0.47-acre block has an east-west orientation. These blocks are planted with the Estrella clone of syrah on 1103P. The soil at "brave oak" is a medium drained clay loam weathered from calcareous shale. These terraces contain a large amount of limestone below the topsoil. In 2003 yields were 33.5 hectoliters per hectare (2.79 tons per acre). Harvest was the 10th of September. The sugar content in the grapes was 26.3° brix (north-south terraces) and 30.0° brix (east-west terraces). The grapes were 100% destemmed. The grapes were 100% treaded by foot. The wine was fermented with 100% indigenous yeasts. Total maceration was 59 days (north-south terraces) and 74 days (east-west terraces) exactly two and three full moons after harvest. The wine from the north-south terraces was aged in 225-liter Seguin Moreau barrels 3 and 4 years old. And the wine from the east-west terraces was aged in new 225-liter Seguin Moreau barrels. In August of 2005 I declassified the new barrels into the 2004 "petite rousse" syrah. Total time in barrel was 28 months. The wine was racked barrel-to-barrel one time on the summer solstice in 2004. This wine was never pumped, acidulated, fined or filtered. This wine was bottled by hand via gravity on Clos Mimi's own equipment. There is no press wine in the bottle. Alcohol content is 15.8%. 100% syrah. Total production is 122 cases.