BLRDCYN Syrah 2024

Whimsical Red Fruit & Kisses of Lavendar
Stolpman Vineyards founded Ballard Canyon in the early 1990s and today it is the only AVA in the country dedicated to Syrah.  In 2024, Pete Stolpman took the opportunity to purchase Syrah from 4 of his neighbors' vineyards, all farmed by his Partner, Grape Whisperer Ruben Solorzano.  In order to taste the variance in each site's terroir, picks were all aimed at the same ripeness (25.5 brix), all fruit was de-stemmed, and the wines aged only in large neutral barrels.
This Spring, the entire Stolpman team sat down to taste the results. One site showed pure magic, head and shoulders above the 3 others.  Immediately, the team decided to capture this small 490 case lot in bottle.  The wine shows dark and dense, with a delicate sweetness creating a throughline from the thick mid palate and enveloping the fine tannin on the finish. 
Pete's dad, Tom's BLRDCYN license plate tells the tale of the Stolpman team driving up and down Ballard Canyon Road each day wondering about the different profiles from their neighbors' Syrah.   
Healthy late winter and early spring rains pushed back bud break by a few weeks. Then, the growing season remained moderate without any vintage-defining heatwaves. September warmed up and gave us confidence that even ripening would occur. Excited about the ideal conditions, we jumped off into the grand experimentation of making Syrah from 4 of our neighboring vineyards in Ballard Canyon! 
Booming continuum of fresh perfume > muddled berry > menthol > mocha. Smooth and luscious while somehow still light on its feet and delicate. Refined and silky coming to an effortless tap dance on the finish with fine graphite tannin and a spark of brightness. A focused pure prettiness rather than feral savory syrah notes. Whimsical red fruit carries the day with just kisses of lavender below. Tantalizingly attractive now in its youth, so much so, I’m almost afraid to see the freshness fade! Because the $50 retail price is well below the average bottle cost produced from this estate, we agreed not to disclose the vineyard name.