Still Life Surah 2020 Marlborough 20L

The fruit for our 2020 Still Life Syrah was sourced from BioGro certified organic vineyard no. 5084 in Marlborough. Here, the fruit was harvested by hand, destemmed into stainless steel and given just a handful of gentle punchdowns before being left to wild ferment in tank. After a week it was pressed into aged French oak barrels (0% new) and left until it was ready to be kegged in mid-July 2021. Unfiltered, unfined (vegan) and with 20ppm SO2 added prior to kegging.

Marlborough Syrah always tests the growing limits because it is so (relatively speaking) cool, but here we managed to strike an incredibly pleasant balance of ripeness/fruit sweetness and savoury/tertiary development. Here you can expect violets, florals, spice, and blue fruit, and also some dense, sinewy, wholesome tannins. 

NB: Don't confuse this wine with the 2021 Still Life Syrah, which is a lighter, brighter, unoaked Syrah from the Hawke's Bay. The 2020 Syrah is more elegant, softer, more structured and shows its age / time spent in barrel.