2002 Syrah Broken Leg Anderson Valley

Wells Guthrie has turned out his finest collection of syrahs to date in 2002, and he gives some of the credit to the shape of this growing season. It was a hard vintage in that we had a lot of heat and therefore had a challenge getting pickers to do a good job and to pick at just the right time," he explained. We had some problems getting our parcels picked early enough, and this made it tough for some pinots. But syrah is more forgiving. It also comes in later, and by then people had had a chance to settle down. Our syrahs were actually harvested between October 10 and early November, with higher sugars and more thorough flavor development than in 2001."I am constantly amazed by the flexibility of the syrah variety on America's West Coast, and one can witness this flexibility without leaving the Copain facility, as Guthrie has outstanding 2002 examples from Walla Walla Valley in Washington State, as well as Anderson Valley, Yorkville Highlands, Mendocino County and Santa Lucia Highlands. The Copain wines are very reasonably priced.