2008 was the “Year of Ice” for Hudson Vineyards. After a dry winter the vines came out of their dormancy only to experience the worst spring frost since 1972. Miraculously the vines recovered, but with the smallest crop yield we have had in many years. With their lighter than normal load and a warm mild summer they ripened an average of 10 days earlier than their normal harvest date. Although there is less wine to go around from this vintage, the low yields resulted in wines that have great concentration and great harmonizing acidities.
Robert Parker has scored this wine at 90 points.
“Lots of pepper, roasted meat, tapenade and smoky notes made me think of France’s northern Rhone. With sweet fruit, good depth and elegance as well as a velvety texture, it is an impressive, complex Syrah. It is not your typical California Rhone Ranger by any stretch of the imagination. Consume it over the next 5-6 years.”
The 2008 Syrah was ultra concentrated with small berries and loads of flavor. Despite the heat during the season, we were able to pick the fruit with no raisining so the fruit flavors stayed fresh and lively. After tasting the fruit on the vines we decided to ferment the fruit in 3 separate lots in small open top fermentors to maximize flavor extraction and for more control over the idiosyncrasies of the sub blocks. This gamble paid off in spades, giving the final blend more complexity with more definition of flavor. We pulled fruit from 2 distinct blocks, one known for its bold purity of fruit and the other for its backbone and seriousness. Each lot was fermented separately and then blended before bottling The fermentations took 2-3 weeks with flavors building earlier than usual in the tank; a good sign of an excellent vintage. After pressing, the wine was transferred into 100% new French oak Billon burgundy barrels where it went through malolactic fermentation slowly over the next month. It was aged on the primary fermentation sediments for 16 months before racking to blend before a slightly earlier than usual bottling in March 2010.
Lee Hudson has done it again!!!
This wine truly captures the essence of Syrah from a cool site in California. While large scaled, there is a breed and balance that is rare in modern Syrah.
This wine has wonderful aromatics of kirsch, mulberry, tobacco, wild herbs, cloves, anise and smoked meat. I could smell this for hours! There is a savory quality like great veal stock that keeps the fruit in check. Waves of red fruit, mint, tobacco and chewy tannins that are all in perfect balance come with each sip. This truly is a world class expression of Syrah. The Chave of Carneros!