wine profile

​6 Bottle Maximum

This small cap release is a tribute to how wine was made in ancient times. Using a hands-off winemaking approach, this is our 10th year of working with the 500L terracotta clay Amphorae.  The result is a wine that challenges you to define it to a specific region or style.

The 2022 vintage combines fresh and dried fruit notes with wet rock, and sweet herbs in a complex medley. Offering aromas of violet, charcoal, salami, and pomegranate. The palate highlights the fruit, bringing ripe cherries and dried cranberries with slate and spice on the finish. The wine is smooth with silky tannins and juicy finish that makes it approachable now through 2030.

INSIDER TIP: Originally used in ancient Greek & Roman days, this approach embodies the artisan desire to make wines more naturally with wild ferments and minimal intervention. For more information on the Amphorae, click here.

Winemaking notes

The 2022 Amphora Syrah is a co-fermented blend of 97% Syrah and 3% Viognier. At harvest, we placed whole berry Syrah grapes into three 500L terracotta and closed the lids. After 10 days, the natural wild ferment began at a low temperature and slowing progressed for 6 weeks. This hands-off approach resulted in slower extraction from the grape skins, while the tannin worked as a natural antioxidant to the wine.

The wine was left in the Amphorae fully untouched for 6 months. The wine was then pressed off, bottled and hand waxed.  Having worked with the Amphorae for multiple vintages, the winemaking team is now starting to find the right amount of time on skins, hoping to give you unique, yet approachable wines. 

Vintage Notes

The 2022 season kicked off late with a cool start to the season and finished with an amazingly warm and dry fall. The microclimates within the vineyards played a large role in the ripening of different varietals as the right slope and aspect can help collect warmth on the cooler days. Bud break and flowering was delayed by about two weeks with the cool weather, but August and September came through with higher-than-average temperatures which luckily lasted through most of October as well, ensuring that our late-ripening reds matured.

We harvested our first fruit on September 21st for our traditional method sparkling wine, Chardonnay from our Thomas Ranch vineyard in OK Falls. The vines produced close to average yields despite our extra crop thinning efforts to ripen the fruit in what we thought could be a shorter window. The hot and dry weather in October was invaluable, resulting in more intense aromatics in our late ripening whites and reds with concentration and finesse. Expect to see wines with more natural acidity and balance this vintage.

Vineyard

Sourced from the Bullpine and Perfect Hedge Vineyard in Osoyoos.