Hosting grandson Miles for the day, Linda grilled a pizza on the deck and wanted a big bold Syrah for a 'pizza' wine.
It’s ironic how often we open a wine under circumstances that are a repeat of an earlier similarly situated tasting. Such was the case tonight when this was an almost identical re-occurance nearly two years to the day/date of this blogpost excerpted below - .
Zaca Mesa Eight Barrel Syrah 2017
Linda grilled a pizza on the deck and wanted a big bold Syrah for a 'pizza' wine.
I pulled from the cellar this Santa Ynez Valley Syrah we discovered, tasted and acquired during our Zaca Mesa Winery and Vineyards Visit during our Santa Barbara County Wine Experience earlier that spring. We joined their wine club and received this as part of our inaugural wine club shipment of a select mixed case from that visit.
Eight Barrel Syrah derives its name from an anomalous practice employed during its first vintage back in 1993. As part of an experiment from the inquisitive nature of then winemaker, Daniel Gehrs, rather than crushing the grapes, allowing fermentation, pressing the grape skins and stems – or pomace – to extract all juice, and then moving the wine into barrel for aging, that Eight Barrel Syrah was crafted by first allowing the wine juice to freely run out of the fermentation tanks off the grape skins and stems without pressing the pomace to release trapped wine. He then allowed the remaining trapped juice to slowly drain overnight into a separate collection, gradually extracting deep color and flavor from the grape skins. The collected volume of wine from that first vintage filled just eight barrels, and so it was christened “Eight Barrel”, a new and distinct bottling of Syrah.
That wine’s opulent style created somewhat of a cult following that grew each year, the demand quickly and vastly exceeding a mere eight barrels. Hence, they no longer limit production to just eight barrels of the label. They do retain the branding in remembrance of the eight barrels of wine that started the tradition. Eight Barrel today, is one of our Zaca Mesa's most sought after wines, which they work to craft a more hedonistic style to round out their portfolio of Syrah offerings.
This is 100% Shiraz sourced from Santa Ynez appellation estate vineyards, Mesa vineyard Blocks B & A and Chapel vineyard Block G.
Winemaker notes for the 2017 Eight Barrel Syrah: "The aromatics (of the 2017 Eight Barrel Syrah) are lifted by tones of juicy plum and caramelized cinnamon, followed by an underlying element of seasoned firewood. The burly personality of this wine is evident upon the first sip, broadly covering the palate and offering an abundance of both red and blue fruits. The texture evolves as opulent tannins settle into a persistent finish of cured meats and dried cranberry."
This release was rated 92 points by Wine Enthusiast.
Dark inky purple colored, medium-full bodied, black raspberry and plum fruits accented by spice, sage, black tea and tobacco notes.
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https://www.zacamesa.com/
Zaca Mesa Winery Twitter - @ZacaMesa_Wine