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2003 Petite Rousse Paso Robles Syrah Two thousand three was a particularly auspicious "millésime" at Rolling Hills Vineyard thanks to a longer than normal ripening period. Remember this 10' x 6' block is planted with the Estrella clone of Syrah exclusively which translates into an overall shorter cluster length, a smaller berry diameter, and longer hangtime. In order to maximize quality we thinned the clusters as close to 100% "veraison" as possible. This was a vintage so typical of Paso Robles' warm climate where one had to pick on jammy flavors, seed color and berry shrivel, thus ignoring the corresponding sugar readings (e.g. 21.0° brix 30 August, 23.3° brix 13 September, 25.3° brix 19 September). Being an old school winegrower who practices as much biodynamics in the cellar as possible, I am always praying for a fall equinox harvest date. When I realized the 23rd of September was the first day of autumn as well as a "fruit day" according to my biodynamic calendar---"vendanger en fruits pour des vins fruités"---I merrily scheduled Rolling Hills to hand harvest the grapes. Twenty-four hours after destemming, the two tanks averaged 27.75° brix, 4.02 pH, and 4.93 grams per liter total acidity (3.20 grams per liter sulfuric acid). Gambling with such a late harvest date and religiously not interested in watering back the must, I inoculated each tank at 26° brix with a commercial yeast strain (e.g. D80 which was isolated "chez" Guigal during the early 1990s) at half the recommended dosage level. My enological prayers were answered when the wine went dry on the skins. The first tank macerated for 17 days. The second tank macerated for 20 days. The "vin de goutte" or free run wine was settled for 10 days in stainless before gravity filling five and six year old Seguin Moreau Center of France barrels 25 October. The "vin de presse" (e.g. pressed to 0.2bar only) was settled in stainless for 45 days before gravity filling identical 225-liter barrels. Containing approximately 12% press wine, the 2003 vintage signifies the first time any press wine has been added to the blend. Per my tasting notes the 0.2bar press barrels possessed a meaty, kalamata olive, Côte Rotie-like aroma that complimented the black raspberry, plum and out-of-this-world blood orange driven free run barrels. The ripe, fruit-based tannins are covered with generous amounts of glycerol and polysaccharides. Once again, indigenous malolactic fermentation proceeded "en barrique" for the free run barrels and in stainless for the 0.2bar press wine. With malo finished by 31 December the free run barrels were sulfured at the end of March and April 2004 just before the cellar warmed up. The delayed sulfur addition was inspired by Thierry Allemand's "cuvée sans souffre" Cornas tasted two years ago at Hospice du Rhone. The wine spent 9 months in oak before being gravity fed to its stainless bottling tank. Reflecting the immortal ripeness of the vintage, the 2003 "petite rousse" possesses legendary color and "un petit peu plus de 16% alcool." Blended with 1.7% of declassified 2002 Shell Creek Vineyard Syrah and 1.7% of declassified 2001 Bunny Slope Vineyard Syrah, the third vintage of "petite rousse" is definitely our most serious to date. Approximately 2800 cases were bottled without acidulation, fining, or filtration under the gravitational pull of the new moon 16 August 2004. One hundred percent Syrah "bien sur."
23 September 2003
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