2021
Solaksen x Stillwater Creek Syrah

Along the Royal Slope, Syrah finds a natural home. Long summer light, cool nights, steady winds, and well-drained loess over basalt help the grape ripen fully while preserving lift and tension. Diverse elevations and exposures let it show many accents: pepper, olive, and florals from cooler benches; darker fruit and spice from warmer slopes. With gentle extraction and thoughtful élevage, the wines carry purity, shape, and length.

At both Solaksen and Stillwater Creek, the vineyards are perfectly suited to this dynamic variety. The 2021 season brought below-average winter precipitation, followed by hot, windy weather in late May and early June that led to small berries, compact clusters, and naturally low yields. Heat advanced sugars while flavor and phenolic ripeness lagged, but a cool fall allowed flavors to catch up and brought the fruit into balance, yielding intensely concentrated reds with vivid expression.

Fruit was hand-harvested in the early morning and arrived at the winery in pristine condition. Each lot was cluster-sorted. Twenty percent whole clusters were placed in tank first; the remaining 80 percent was destemmed, berry-sorted, and layered on top. Fermentations were slow and even, followed by more than 30 days of extended maceration. The wine then aged 21 months in French oak (100% new). After assemblage in tank, it was bottled unfined and unfiltered. Only four barrels were selected, yielding 110 cases.