The Christensen Family Vineyard has developed into one of our favorite Syrah vineyards. Sharon Christensen and her family have done a superb job, along with vineyard manager Graciano Aguayo, of caring for this vineyard and making certain that the quality of the fruit is as high as any Syrah that we purchase.

The Christensen Family Vineyard is actually the closest vineyard to the winery. It is in the Russian River Valley just off of Fulton Road. In 2004 yields were particularly small, averaging only 2.071 tons across all 3 blocks of grapes. We picked all three blocks on September 18, 2004 making this one of our first Syrah vineyards picked. Sugars came in at a healthy, but not alarming 26.1 brix.

We are somewhat unique in that we do not rack our Syrah unless there is a need to do so. The Christensen Syrah sat on its lees for its entire elevage (14 months). As always, we selected the finest possible barrels for the single-vineyard wine. Nine out of 17 barrels made it into the vineyard designated blend. This wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered in January, 2006.

The 2004 Christensen Syrah is a bigger wine than the 2003 (which received 92 points from the Wine Spectator). It is full of dark fruits, earth, tar, and game flavors. Underneath one can taste hints of pepper and dark cherry fruits. The tannins are there but they are obviously ripe. This wine is certainly drinkable now but should age well for years to come.

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