Vintage

Block Thirty-Four was no different form most vineyards in 2016. Growing conditions were nearly perfect and the vineyard produced a beautiful crop with huge clusters, incredible complexity and a lovely acidity. Our goal was to not too force the Grenache into a heavy style by leaving it on the vines past its ideal ripening date. Grenache naturally produces lighter wines with a delicate flavor and crisp acidity and that is a style we prefer. With that in mind I selected a harvest date of September 24th, when the grapes had reached full maturity.

Winemaking

The grapes were destemmed without crushing into an open-top fermenter and then cold-soaked at 50 °F for a week to increase flavor complexity and color. The yeast was then added to start the fermentation. I prefer a Grenache that is light in style and showcases the intense flavors of the fruit and with limited oak characteristics. With that in mind, I aged the wine in only neutral French oak barrels for 19 months. Prior to bottling I decided to blend in a small amount of Syrah to augment the finish without strongly affecting the flavor and color of this incredible wine. The resulting wine is light, delicate, brimming with red fruit flavors and balanced with a bright acidity. This is an extremely limited production wine that only came about as a result of having excess wine from our GSM. Only one barrel was bottled and it was never produced again. It is a special wine that we will always cherish.