JEWELSTONE SYRAH 2021

VITICULTURE
Our Jewelstone Syrah has been sourced from Mission’s Mere Road vineyard on the Gimblett Gravels, where soils have 10 -30cm sandy loam over gravel, making this site one of the best on the Gravels for growing Syrah and Merlot. Crop load: 5 tonnes per hectare on 2.5m row spacing. VSP with full leaf removal around bunches before veraison or when the berries change colour. Now that the vines are nearly twenty years old, they crop less and need very little bunch thinning. The berries have very thick skins, giving wines with quite a prominent structure that needs some time to mature and soften after
bottling.

WINEMAKING
The 10-ton parcel was crushed into the fermenter with some fruit partially crushed to keep some whole berries. There was no pre-ferment soak, and the fermentation began slowly, reaching a peak temperature of 29 degrees. The fermentation process was gradual, taking 10 days to complete. The skins were gently turned daily to extract colour until fermentation was finished. After 20 days, the wine was separated from the
skins for malolactic fermentation. The wine was aged in Taransaud Troncais barrels, with 30% new barrels and the rest being one to two years old. The oak from this French
forest is highly valued for enhancing aroma and structuring the wine.