The MFV Estate Syrah is richly dark in color and has a bouque of ripe blueberries and black cherries supported by characters of Italian roasted espresso. The pallet experiences stoutly porter, dried currants and Mediterranean spices to go with the blueberries and black cherries with hint of tobacco in the distance. This wine is powerful yet elegant and smooth. And if you want finish this wine is second to none. The perfect steak wine!
Dense purple-black with a crimson edge, it is almost intimidating in appearance. The nose gives classic Syrah notes of pepper and black cherries and blueberries, while the barrel aging adds a touch of cedar and coconut. The palate is full and deep with a welcome lift of acidity. As of this writing (November 2020) the tannins are just beginning to knit themselves into what will become a silky texture and carry the wine forward for at least another5-8 years.
Growing Season:
Although it is more interesting to read about challenging years that test the skills of the winegrower with hail, rain, frost, etc., it is actually the uneventful years that often give the best wine. 2016 was one of the latter. The month of July did have a heat spell that made things a bit uncomfortable for the vineyard crew, but at that point in the development of the fruit, the berries are pea-sized, green, rock hard and unaffected by the heat. August came and went without much drama and soon enough it was the third week of September and time to harvest. The Syrah was harvested in several picks depending on site exposure, vine vigor and flavor development. Fermentation was carried out by our local wild yeasts in open-top fermenters and then barreled down to complete native malo-lactic conversion. After eighteen months of barrel aging we selected the best 15 barrels and bottled without fining orfiltration.
