2002 Syrah Sonoma Hillsides

Pax Mahle blends a bit of viognier into one of his syrah bottlings, and made some roussanne in vintage 2003, but he's essentially a syrah specialist. His 2002s are his most impressive vintage to date, and the 2003s I sampled from barrel also promise to be strong (my early favorites were the Castelli-Knight and the regular Alder Springs Vineyard cuvee with Walker and Kobler also showing great early potential). Mahle crushes all his fruit by foot, and ferments with wild yeasts. The percentage of whole clusters varies, as does the percentage of new oak used to age the wines. Some fermentations are hotter than others, as the tanks are not temperature-controlled. But the differences between the wines are mostly differences of terroir notes Mahle.Vintage 2002 was a very dry year, according to Mahle, with the first real rain coming in mid-November. We struggled to get good flavors, even if the stems and seeds were ripe. As a result, the alcohols were a bit higher than ideal. On the other hand, by farming to low yields and managing our canopies, we're never in a position of having to scramble to pick."In fact, the Pax 2002s carry very high alcohols, in the 14.8% to 16.9% range, but somehow manage to maintain their balance.