About 2016 Spear Estate Syrah:
This 2016 Spear Estate Syrah by Spear Vineyards & Winery is intellectual, balanced, and delicious.
Tasting Notes:
Crunchy boysenberry, black tea leaves, wild blueberry. Dark cherry, meat smoke, chopped fig. Dried thyme and rosemary, cedar and wilted violet. Clusters of barely-ripe hand picked blackberries just pulled from briary chaparral and then dusted with ground coffee, fennel, and anise. Salt lick stymied by licorice and bitter chocolate. Lightweight and lean yet bursting at the seams with effortless expressiveness.
Growing Notes:
While the Santa Rita Hills appellation of Santa Barbara California is primarily known for the production of high quality Pinot Noir, Syrah has gained a firm foothold as the second most successful red wine grape in the region. Spear is one of the newest kids on the block to take a swing at growing Syrah in this cool, foggy, windswept stretch of earth and they are already hitting home runs. Clones 383, 470, and Alban selection are represented in this first Syrah release from our estate vineyard. Gentle slopes marked with a clay and sandy clay loam soil profile.
Harvest Dates:
Winemaking Notes:
25% whole cluster fermented.
About The Winery:
Spear Vineyards & Winery is a family owned, in-house farmed and certified organic vineyard nestled in the heart of the Sta. Rita Hills Appellation. At Spear, our hope is to craft wines that transparently communicate our estate vineyard’s voice with the utmost lucidity and sincerity.
About OFER SHEPHER Vigneron:
Ofer Shepher’s interest in the local wine community germinated very early on and continued to resonate within him throughout his college and post-college career. Weekend camping trips to the Santa Ynez Valley sparked an unyielding desire to pursue coastal wines. He began his winemaking studies at Davis in 2004, which propelled a move to the historic Gnesa Ranch in 2005. Being surrounded by the Santa Rita Hills was truly inspirational from a viticultural and enological standpoint. From that moment forward, Ofer’s sole focus was the Santa Rita Hills appellation. He spent the next seven years patiently searching for what would prove to be the ideal location to plant and build his dream vineyard and winery.
As a child, Ofer would spend summers in Israel working on the kibbutz his mother grew up on. This communal farming background not only afforded Ofer a tremendously diverse skill set, it also set the tone for a collaborative work ethic focused predominantly on agriculture. These formative years continue to influence the stewardship of every aspect at Spear Vineyards, where every stage of the wine growing process is given equal priority. The goal is the beauty of the total system where everything and everyone is supported and appreciated. With these alignments, we hope to adhere to the Spear motto of: “Wine that tastes like where it came from.”