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Edmunds St. John

Steve Edmunds inaugurated his Durell Vineyard syrah in 1986, from a single parcel of vines planted in 1980 in cobbly clay soil at the base of the first ridge of hills that separate Sonoma Valley from Petaluma (the large Durell Vineyard straddles the Sonoma Valley and Carneros appellations). But the vines were planted on AXR rootstock, and by 1988 phylloxera was spreading rapidly.New blocks were planted, and the one Steve Edmunds chose to integrate into his syrah was on red rocky soil quite different from the original holding. This new plot accounted for 20% of the Durell bottling in 1992, but as the quality of fruit in the original vineyard began to be affected by phylloxera, the percentage rose to more than 60% of the '94 blend. The 1997 release will come completely from the new parcel. (These vines were sold earlier this year to William Price, who reportedly will continue to sell syrah grapes to Edmunds St. John.)Grapes that go into the Durell syrah are destemmed, then fermented in open-top fermenters, using a yeast strain that originated in the Rhone Valley. The wine goes through its malolactic fermentation and subsequent aging entirely in old puncheons (no barriques no new oak), and is bottled the second June or July without fining or filtration. The new wines are held back in bottle for at least a year before release, but generally need another year or two to reveal their personality. The best vintages of the Durell Vineyard syrah are as likely to be mistaken for French wine as any Rhone-style bottling made in California, though I can't help wondering whether the sweetening influence of a small percentage of new oak might ameliorate the austerity of some vintages.

From Five California Verticals (Jul 1998) by Stephen Tanzer

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1988 Syrah Sonoma Valley Durell Vineyard

Color: Red

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