Donelan Obsidian Syrah

Product Description

We are a small, boutique winery in Sonoma County. We have elected to prize quality over all other factors. Simply put, we think wine should taste great – with every vintage and every grape, this is our ultimate priority and our greatest motivation. We believe that the best wines are not made but discovered and we take pride in the responsibility and privilege of distilling for your pleasure the greatest qualities and natural variations in a vineyard and a variety. We start with great terroir, because site trumps all variables, and we proceed with extreme selectivity, conscientious winemaking, and extensive blending trials. Our journey began not with the grafting of a vine or the crushing of a grape but with a philosophy: quality second to none. From that pursuit we strive to create a quality wine that pleases the palate, heart and mind. In each step of the process, we learn, grow and adapt to the changes in a vintage, and each one places us in the delicate tussle between farmer and land. Each vintage changes, challenges, and reconfigures our previously held beliefs as part of the evolution and continuation of man’s journey as stewards of the land. The more we work with a property, the more we can define it. It is the vineyard that teaches us restraint. In the cellar, we watch over and guide the process from grape berry to wine. As stewards of the wine, vine and fermentation, we are the conductors of the symphony. Each varietal contributes its own temperament, each vineyard its own timbre, each vine its own instrument and each berry its own specific wave length. We conduct these elements to create a rapid, but very soft, pianissimo, Chardonnay or Roussanne. Or perhaps a slow, strong and loud, fortissimo, Syrah. We let the wine speak. We guide it though its journey and create symphonies, quartets, and solos. This pursuit is a journey of learning, fellowship, pleasure, and fun.

Truly results in a unique, varietal expression. Consistent with the past two vintages, the wine was slow to evolve aromatically and in its new home in bottle, has begun to stretch its legs, expressing flavors of tobacco, lilac, licorice, cherries, and mineral components that form a natural association with the volcanic rock the vines grow in. This iteration of Obsidian has as much structure and power, while offering a fuller mid-palate, making the wine feel more complete.