The 1999 Novy Page-Nord Vineyard Syrah may be our favorite Novy wine to date. It is a selection of the best barrels of wine from two different clones of Syrah grown in the Page-Nord Vineyard in Southern Napa. We call these clones the “B & B Clone” (because it is grown next to the outstanding Trubody Ranch Bed and Breakfast) and the “River Clone” (because it is grown next to a river). In actuality, the B & B Clone is a selection from the Joseph Phelps Vineyard while the River Clone has it’s origins in Australia.

We harvested both clones early in the morning on October 19, 1999. The B & B clone came in at 24.8 brix while the River fruit was at 25.7 brix. In both cases, the grapes tasted fully ripe and mature although the stems never fully turned brown. Therefore, we destemmed all of the clusters. To help concentrate the wonderful fruit flavors we bled off approximately 5% of the pink juice. We fermented the remaining must in 1 ton bins and in a stainless steel tank. After a 3 day cold soak we inoculated the juice with three different Rhone yeasts, D254, D80, and Grenache.

Much like the Sonoma County Syrah, we followed the Australian tradition and pressed a portion of the juice to barrel sweet and let it finish fermentation there. The vast majority of wine was fermented to dryness and then pressed to barrel. Altogether, we used approximately 25% new French oak on this wine with the remaining barrels being 1, 2 and 3 year old Pinot Noir barrels. After 10 months in oak we carefully selected the finest barrels for this vineyard designated wine. These barrels were racked together in November and the wine was bottled, unfined and unfiltered, in February of 2001.

The 1999 Novy Cellars Page-Nord Syrah is a serious wine. It possesses outstanding purity and concentration of dark fruit flavors, hints of tobacco and coal, and a true sense of goût de terroir. In many ways this is a wine which transports you back to the old world. Tannic and yet not out of balance, this wine is one to lay down in the cellar for several years and watch as it grows and matures.

RELEASE DATE: September, 2001