Estate Vineyard Syrah, 2018
Model Farm
- CountryUSA,
- RegionSonoma,
- ColourRed,
- VarietalSyrah,
94 points. John Gilman, View from the Cellar
“The 2018 Petaluma Gap bottling of syrah from Model Farm is from the couple’s estate vineyard. The wine comes in at 12.5 percent octane this year, was entirely whole cluster fermentation and raised in two hundred and twenty-eight liter, used French barrels. The bouquet is pure, youthful and flat out beautiful, wafting from the glass in a complex constellation of red and black raspberries, smoked meats, pepper, a lovely base of soil, intense notes of lavender, a hint of cedar and a very gentle topnote of violet. On the palate the wine is deep, pure, full-bodied and rock solid at the core, with stunning intensity of flavor and grip, ripe, fine-grained tannins and a long, tangy and very complex finish. The aromatic and flavor profile of this wine remind me very strongly of Gerard Chave’s estate bottling of Saint-Joseph back in the day, but it has far more depth and is a more powerful and mineral wine on the palate than that lovely wine from Domaine Chave’s yesteryears. Great juice.” 2028-2075.
(90-92) points. Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media
“The 2018 Syrah benefits from a much more favorable growing season than the 2017. Bright, fragrant and super-expressive, the 2018 is gracious and light on its feet, yet offers terrific depth. Harvest was a full month later than in 2017. The lasting impression is of a Syrah built on strong aromatic presence.”
Producer: Model Farm
Model Farm produces single vineyard wines in Sonoma, California, seeking out compelling sites of unique terroir while maintaining our core values of sustainable farming and honest winemaking. We produce our wines using minimalist, old-world techniques. All wines are fermented with native yeasts, no additives, additions or adjuncts, and none see new oak.
LA CRUZ VINEYARD La Cruz, a sustainably certified vineyard, incorporates practices derived from organics, permaculture, and biodynamics that were learned over the years since the vineyard’s inception in 1989. These practices include bee-keeping, owl and bat boxes, a flock of over 200 sheep that graze and fertilize our land, and careful management of the pond system that ensures our water supply. As with all of our wines, we employ minimalist winemaking techniques to protect the integrity of terroir. 100% native fermentation, 100% whole cluster, no additions or additives, bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal effective SO2.
ESTATE VINEYARD Our Petaluma Gap Syrah is farmed exclusively by the two of us. We chose the ambitious task of farming our vineyards ourselves in order to better understand the intimate, complicated relationship between vineyard and wine. All of our vineyard practices are organic, and we farm by hand, without the use of a tractor to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. No herbicides or fertilizers are used and no-till farming helps to preserve soil diversity. All weed control is done by hand. This attentive, hands on farming style allows us to be hands off in the cellar. 100% native fermentation, no additions or additives, bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal effective SO2.
Organic and Sustainably Farmed Vineyards, Non-additive Winemaking, Minimal Effective SO2, Used Oak Barrels, Non-Filtered Wines, Vegan, Non-GMO, Gluten Free,