Biodynamic®, Single Vineyard 2020 ‘The Butler’

The fruit for this Rhône-style blend was harvested by hand at optimal ripeness over several weeks. Select vineyard blocks and varieties were fermented separately in stainless steel tanks for 10 to 14 days. The wine aged for 14 months in 100 percent French oak barrels, 12 percent of which were new oak, before the final blend was assembled.

Varietal Content:
Syrah 63%
Petite Sirah 18%
Mourvèdre 12%
Grenache 6%
Viognier 1%

Cases Produced 2,000

More than 1,500 feet above the Russian River, Butler Ranch drapes over a set of rolling ridge-top knolls on the eastern edge of the California Coast Range, which separates the cool, foggy coastline from the hot and dry interior to the east. The ranch sits at the boundary, surrounded by dense native woodlands, and captures the best of both worlds.

For the 2020 vintage, winter was relatively dry, only bringing about half the amount of rain of an average season. Spring did experience more frost days than a typical season, but with a mild to moderate overall temperatures, bud break and flowering occurred about a week earlier than 2019. The yields of a lot of varietals, including Syrah and Petite Sirah were affected, resulting in lower than normal yields. August and September were warm, bringing a few heat spikes into the region which sped up harvest by a couple of weeks from the average harvest season. Smaller than normal berry size resulted in increased phenolic content and concentration.

The 2020 vintage offers extraordinary finesse, power and intensity. Earthy notes of pepper, game and wild herbs underscore lovely blue fruit aromas on the nose. The muscular palate delivers spicy mixed berries and purple fruit, with charismatic slate-tinged tannins that support the wine throughout the clean, peppery blue fruit finish. The Butler will continue developing layers of character with an additional five to ten years of cellaring.

WARNING: Drinking distilled spirits, beer, coolers, wine and other alcoholic beverages may increase cancer risk, and, during pregnancy, can cause birth defects. For more information go to: www.P65Warnings.ca.gov/BPA.