2009 Syrah Timbervine

I was only able to taste a handful of wines from Radio-Coteau, but I will be addressing that oversight in the near future. These are some of the most compelling wines being made in California. Proprietor Eric Sussman pursues organic and biodynamic farming with a focus on cooler, marginal growing sites. In the cellar the wines are made with ambient yeasts and natural malolactic fermentations. The wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered with the exception of the Chardonnay, which is lightly fined. Yields were down dramatically in 2010, mostly because of the lower crop set. The Pinots saw 5 days of cold soak followed by 15-17 days of fermentation. The Syrahs are potentially even more interesting, but I wasn't able to taste a fully representative set of wines.

According to Eric Sussman, "the 2008 harvest worked out well for syrah because we got a true Indian summer, which gave the grapes a last kick up in ripeness, but not too much." And that was an important point, he added, because "if anything, I like to err on the early side for picking so that freshness is maintained." He absolutely does not want stewed or heavy character in his wines, he said, and being careful not to let sugars run up in the grapes "is one of the most important tasks of the year, and we like to spend a lot of time on the vineyards." The 2009 growing season for pinot played into Sussman's hands almost perfectly, he said. "When you get full maturity with no drop in acidity, that's pretty much ideal, and that's what happened in '09," he told me. "The down side is that it was dry in the winter and spring, and cool during flowering, so yields were diminished somewhat, so it's a slight quality/quantity tradeoff."