Hop Barn Hill Syrah 2019

Hop Barn Hill was purchased by Uncle Tony Bondi in the late 1950s. It was one of the last remaining hop ranches. Uncle Tony purchased it with the intention of paving it over to put a trailer park on it. These were very fashionable and profitable ventures in the 1950s. He had the plans drawn, yet unfortunately he died in a freak tractor accident before he could implement his vision. Thankfully for us, Lee Sr. inherited the property and kept farming the apple orchards and vineyards currently on it. Later Lee Sr. created his own vision for the property and renovated the old Hop Kiln as our winery and the old Hop Barn as our tasting room in the 1980s, which we still use today.

The 2019 season was overall very cool with record rainfall for Sonoma County in February. The vines however were not affected by this because they were still dormant at the time. Similar to the 2018 season, spring and summer were moderate in temperature and ripening developed gradually and under minimal stress. This year was in fact so similar to 2018 that we began harvest the same day, on September 10^th. Unfortunately, another wildfire hit the region at the end of October, but luckily none of our vineyards were affected. The winery and many employees were evacuated, but we were able to keep an eye on the new vintage with a skeleton crew. The quality was not impacted, and we are very excited at the concentration of flavors in this vintage.

APPELLATION

Russian River Valley

VARIETALS PLANTED

Syrah

SOIL INFORMATION

Huichicha

SOIL CHARACTERISTICS

Clay

ROOTSTOCK

420

YEAR ACQUIRED

1961

YEAR PLANTED

1996

Dark in color with fresh aromas of black plum, sandalwood, fresh cracked pepper. The mouth coating palate is juicy with black cherry, coffee bean and blackberry flavors. Berry liqueur rounds out the lengthy finish.