The 2017 Syrah is our inaugural wine. The fruit was grown in Paradox Vineyard in Ashland, Oregon. This wine is an elegant, savory expression of syrah from an elevated hillside vineyard.

The fruit was grown in Paradox Vineyard in Ashland, Oregon. Paradox was planted in 2008 by Bryant and Baiba Calhoun, fellow lovers of great wine.  Bryant and Baiba selected an elevated site with both eastern and western exposures, planting white wine grapes to capture the early morning sun and red wine grapes to soak up the heat of the afternoon. We think their sunny, sloping site is fantastic for wine grapes, and we were excited to buy their 2017 syrah when it unexpectedly became available!

The 2017 growing season was characterized by a wet spring, a dry summer, some forest fire smoke at high altitudes that lessened solar radiation for part of the summer, high temperatures in August, and a nicely dry harvest season. Our 2017 syrah grapes are entirely of the Noir clone, which lends darker fruit notes and a more savory character to the wine. The fruit was picked on the early side of ripeness, preserving acidity, and we used a gentle hand with our oak program. The result is an elegant, restrained style of syrah.