Kunde Family Vineyards 2006 Estate Syrah - 4 Pack

Deal Chatter Gourmet
21

[QUOTE=richardhod, post:6, topic:304641]
Yet you remark on it nonetheless :wink:

Seriously, thank you though.. a rattage is always welcome!!

pH looks a bit high, and when they mention chocolate I think ‘too ripe and not lively enough’!
[/quote]

Syrah seems to be a bit higher in pH than most grapes, so 3.70 isn’t anything too worrying. The TA actually is surprisingly high at 7.2.

Kind of wondering about the 14.1% ABV and 26.2 Brix. Seems like ABV should be closer to 15%, though it could be since 14.1% = 14.%-15.1%.

22

Good Morning Woot!
Had some issues with my password for some reason this morning but now I’m after it. I can tell you first hand Kunde knows how to make exceptional Syrahs (we’ve got the climate and soils to back that claim up) and our 2006 vintage will NOT disappoint!!! Voted recently by QRW (Quarterly Review of Wines) as a 5-star “Best of the Best” California Syrahs. I’m not sure why someone found this wine light and vague - certainly not descriptors of this spicy concentrated estate bottled red. Killer served with pork tenderloin or roasted leg of lamb! Try a little rosemary in there and you have got food and wine pairing down!

23

Hello, and welcome to the forum.

Is this ready for drinking now, and do you feel that it has peaked yet?

Also, do you do a cold soak, and if so, can you describe it?

Thank you.

p.s. I’m also curious about the pH, as gcdyersb mentioned in the post two places above mine.

24

Dear Alexa,

Tim Bell, Kunde Winemaker here. Hopefully it was the 2006 vintage you tasted? Syrah has actually been a real success and strength here at Kunde, and we take it seriously. This wine used a lot co-fermented with Viognier, and bit of Grenache and Mourvedre were blended in for complexity. Our tannins with Syrah are always softer and rounder than with our other reds (esp. Cab), but the wine has a good meaty texture. Great match stews and hearty winter meals!

25

[QUOTE=rnatalie, post:8, topic:304641]
Kunde’s record for me is good enough to risk $15/bottle on this. I’ll see when it gets here. Am drinking the Kunde reserve cab from (WTSO offering recently).
[/quote]

Glad to see you are enjoying the Reserve Cab! I’m pretty fanatical about consistency in quality for our wines, which is why we’ll skip a vintage on the Reserves now and then if it isn’t up to our highest standard.
–Tim Bell, Kunde Winemaker

26

[QUOTE=mxracer98, post:16, topic:304641]
The Kunde previous offering with the cab was very nice. Curious to how the Syrah will age, how it was made, and drinking window on it.
[/quote]

Glad you asked! We’ve got a great older block of Syrah at the north end of the ranch planted to Cote Rotie, La Chapelle, Durrell clones of Syrah that contributed to this blend, along with some clone 1 planted at the south end of the property. We did a three-day cold soak on the Syrah grapes, with delestage (aka, “rack and return”) on some of the lots. That means that soon after the fermentation get’s rolling we rack all of the juice to another tank, then splash it back over top of the skins when returning it. Syrah fermentations can be a little reductive, so some splashing helps. Delestage also helps get good color extraction and round tannins.

One lot of our grapes is co-fermented with the white Rhone variety Viognier, as is sometimes practiced in Old World winemaking. The final blend contains 3% Viognier, just enough to add a subtle aromatic lift to the aroma. Phenolics in the skins of VN also help increase and stabilize color (co-pigmentation).

A small lot of Grenache and Mourvedre was co-fermented separately and used in the blend. We aged this wine for 17 months in barrel, using 38% new oak. Barrels were French, Hungarian, and American origin. This wine always disappears fast at my house because it is so versatile.
–Tim Bell, Kunde Winemaker

27

Bring back the Kunde Viognier, please!
Still pondering this one, we’ll see how the day goes…

28

[QUOTE=NightGhost, post:23, topic:304641]
Hello, and welcome to the forum.

Is this ready for drinking now, and do you feel that it has peaked yet?

Also, do you do a cold soak, and if so, can you describe it?

Thank you.

p.s. I’m also curious about the pH, as gcdyersb mentioned in the post two places above mine.
[/quote]

Hey, NightGhost, Tim Bell (Kunde Winemaker) here. Catching up as fast as I can on replies to various posts!

This wine is drinking nicely now. Predicting it’s “peak” is a subjective thing, of course, don’t know how mature you like your wines, etc. But I think it will likely peak in the next three years or so. If you prefer wines on the mature side, maybe add a couple of years to that.

I gave some details on cold soak in a post a minute ago, but the answer is yes, we do cold soak with the Syrah grapes. We picked cool in the morning, kept the fermenter at about 55 F for two days with a short pumpover each day. We set the temp. higher on day 3, but didn’t heat the tank, letting the yeast get rolling and raising the temperature naturally, so the net effect was a 3-4 day cold soak.

I pay a lot of attention to pH and TA in winemaking. I want a wine to taste balanced, and am okay with the TA being a little high at harvest since some acid drops out during fermentation. My ideal pH might be 3.63-3.65, but 2006 was a moderate growing season, so the vines didn’t respire as much acid as they might otherwise. So I didn’t want to raise the TA any further in search of an ideal pH and have the wine taste too tart. 3.72 pH is actually lower than a lot of red wines these days. Not sure how honest other people are being in their technical notes, but I try to give the straight skinny. :slight_smile:

29

Reading the QRW review:

“2006 Kunde Family Estate Syrah (Sonoma Valley), $20. Big, deep, massive, full-fleshed, black fruit, spice and roasted nut flavors.”

I love that! I’m in!

30

[QUOTE=gcdyersb, post:21, topic:304641]
Syrah seems to be a bit higher in pH than most grapes, so 3.70 isn’t anything too worrying. The TA actually is surprisingly high at 7.2.

Kind of wondering about the 14.1% ABV and 26.2 Brix. Seems like ABV should be closer to 15%, though it could be since 14.1% = 14.%-15.1%.
[/quote]

Tim Bell, Kunde Winemaker here. Saw a couple of posts discussing the brix of our grapes going into this wine. The average brix at harvest for this 2006 Syrah was actually 25.3, not the 26.2 given in the technical information. Not sure who entered that wrong…

That’s why the alcohol isn’t as high as expected. Splashing the wine during fermentation helps drive off some alcohol as well. We take balance in our wines seriously, and don’t want to cross over into port territory!

31

@KundeliciousWinemker

Tim,

Great to hear from you. My experiences with your wines have always been great, and this is a very good price, so I’m in.

Recently enjoyed a bottle of your 2005 Block 3BB04 Barbera with family… fabulous!

Cheers,
j

32

[QUOTE=joenajera, post:31, topic:304641]
@KundeliciousWinemker

Tim,

Great to hear from you. My experiences with your wines have always been great, and this is a very good price, so I’m in.

Recently enjoyed a bottle of your 2005 Block 3BB04 Barbera with family… fabulous!

Cheers,
j
[/quote]

Yep, our Barbera is something unique and special! For many years Kunde has been one of the only Sonoma Valley growers of this under-appreciated variety.

33

I was on the fence about this one, but I’d like to let you know that your good input here has brought me onboard! Sláinte!

34

WD posted this on twitter:

I’m still considering going in, but I’m a little put off by Viognier in my Syrah. At least the percentage isn’t too high.

35

It seems like Kunde ships wine to NJ from their website but any reason why wine.woot would not show NJ as a state being shipped to?

36

[QUOTE=milubilu, post:35, topic:304641]
It seems like Kunde ships wine to NJ from their website but any reason why wine.woot would not show NJ as a state being shipped to?
[/quote]

I am pretty sure that NJ recently changed their laws regarding wine shipments. Not sure what they did, but it wasn’t favorable for you Jersey people.

37

I love Syrah and this is within my post-holiday price range. It’s been awhile since I last wine.wooted so I figured I should get in on this. Can’t wait to try it!!

Has anyone asked about aging potential yet? Usually with packs like this I like to have 2 that I plan on drinking in the next year and 2 to stash away.

Also, am available to rat for Friday’s wine :slight_smile:

38

love the wine maker participation - I’d definitely be in if it weren’t for a very serious post-holiday SIWBM.

39

[QUOTE=emmy83, post:37, topic:304641]
Has anyone asked about aging potential yet? Usually with packs like this I like to have 2 that I plan on drinking in the next year and 2 to stash away.
[/quote]

[QUOTE=KundeliciousWinemker, post:28, topic:304641]
This wine is drinking nicely now. Predicting it’s “peak” is a subjective thing, of course, don’t know how mature you like your wines, etc. But I think it will likely peak in the next three years or so. If you prefer wines on the mature side, maybe add a couple of years to that.
[/quote]

40

Marcia Kunde here. The addition of 3% Viognier into the Syrah is really a classic style of winemaking , used extensively in France and Australia. It is meant to intensify the delightful aromatics inherent in the Syrah grape - the soft floral notes to be exact.