Casas del Bosque Syrah Gran Reserva 2021

Planted on hillside blocks (and thus harvested by hand), this cool climate Syrah grows on a site within the vineyard that is slightly protected form the direct impact of the coastal winds from the Pacific ocean. This helps achieve a proper ripening of the grapes, which display both concentration and structure in the final wine, combined with an elegant acidity typical of coastal Syrah. Only 3,600 cases were produced of this exceptional vintage.

Gran Reserva Syrah

All fruit was sourced from our own vineyard – located within the coolest, westernmost reaches of the Casablanca Valley. A blend of three different vineyard blocks, facing north to north-west and from vines with an average age of 12 years. Sourced from hillside blocks planted on red clay over decomposed granite. The blocks used in this blend were cropped at an average of 4.2 tonnes per hectare (1.7 tons per acre).

After picking, the grapes were subjected to a whole cluster selection. This was followed by destemming (without crushing) and then an individual berry selection before being gravity fed to small open-top tanks. A 5 day cold soak (at 5ºC/41ºF) ensued after which time the must was warmed and inoculated with selected yeasts and fermented during 6 days with temperatures peaking at 32ºC/90ºF. During fermentation the vats were hand-plunged twice daily in order to extract the ideal amount of tannin and colour. Following the completion of fermentation the must was subjected to an additional 4 days of post fermentation maceration. The newly fermented wine was then drained to a mixture of new (45%) and second and third use (55%) French oak barrels for 11 months during which time it was racked twice: once in the spring (upon the completion of malolactic fermentation) and then once again in autumn shortly before bottling. After bottling the finished wine was carefully aged for three months in our cellar prior to release.