Blue Cellar Truhard Vineyard

 

The Vineyard

This French Rhone varietal from Napa’s famed Truchard Vineyard comes from a small block of volcanic rock and ash soils. After harvesting the grapes at peak ripeness, the fruit is hand sorted, de-stemmed, and gently crushed into open top fermenters with approximately 80 % of the whole berries left to cold soak on the skins for 3-5 days. Ten percent of the juice was drawn oafter crushing to concentrate the flavors. As the indigenous microflora begin to show activity, cultured yeast is added to the fermentation. Throughout the fermentation, hand punch downs are performed twice daily. Ten to fifteen days later, the wine is pressed directly to barrels where it is aged for 16 months in approximately 35% new French and American oak.

Testing Notes

This class-act wine pours forth a deep, velvety violet-blue hue that only hints at its depth. On the nose, the fruit comes first – aromas of juicy black currants, ripe and luscious but not overly ripe, followed by layers of cedar, pink peppercorn spice and fennel, ending on a subtle note of tanned leather. Like the aroma, black current dominates a pleasantly mild French oak, rich round accents of nutmeg and vanilla, ending with a whisper of black licorice nestled on an amazingly long finish.
2005 Napa Valley Truchard Syrah
Silver Medal – 2008 San Francisco International Wine Competition
2004 Napa Valley Truchard Syrah
Silver Medal – 2007 San Francisco International Wine Competition
Silver Medal – 2008 Indy International Wine Competition
Silver Medal – 2008 Dallas Morning News Wine Competition

 

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