Kale Hyde Vineyard Syrah 2017
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Winemaker Notes
Savory dark cherry and white pepper notes in the nose. Rich and full body is braced by a graphite and gravelly acidity – due to the older vines. This wine has the lowest alcohol and most natural acidity of all Kale wines
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Fresh but a little tight on initial nosing then opening to reveal more complexity and depth as it sits in the glass, Kale’s Hyde Vineyard Syrah offers up a layered mix of blackberries, forest- floor spice and faint, freshly ground black pepper all framed in a judicious bit of sweet oak. It is a fleshy, moderately full-bodied, neatly balanced wine whose fruit and spice flavors stay in very fine focus from front to back, and, if a rather classy look at the variety that very easy to like now, it teases with suggestions of more complexity to come and is well worth setting aside for several more years.
Kale Wines is an Asian American owned winery with an Asian American winemaker, Kale Anderson. Both Kale and his wife Ranko come from multiracial backgrounds. Kale is half Filipino and half white and Ranko is half Japanese, a quarter Filipino and a quarter Polish. Although Kale has always wanted to be acknowledged for his wines and winemaking, regardless of age, race or ethnicity, while Kale was Director of Winemaking at Pahlmeyer, he became one of the youngest winemakers to receive a 100 point score from Wine Advocate. He is also one of the only Asian American winemakers in the world to accomplish this feat.
Kale's name is actually Kalè, but born and raised in Northern California he has always gone by Kale. Kale's great grandparents were some of the first Filipino Americans to settle in the Central Valley, own land and farm. Ranko's grandparents met in the Japanese internment camps during WWII. Although Kale and Ranko's story is not the norm for a small, family owned winery, they celebrate diversity everyday by sharing their passion for Rhône inspired wines in the Napa Valley.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Known for elegant wines that combine power and finesse, Carneros is set in the rolling hills that straddle the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the abutting San Pablo Bay, combined with lots of midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing wines with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.
This cooler pocket of California lends itself to growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Carneros is an important source of sparkling wines made in the style of Champagne as well.