Stolpman Vineyards 2014 "Para Maria" Red 750ml

BACKGROUND
Para Maria is our partnership with vineyard manager Ruben Solorzano and his wife, Maria, our forewoman. 2014 marks Para Maria's inaugural vintage. Maria Solorzano grew up in the small Jaliscan village of Santa Cruz two hours away from Guadalajara and just a few miles from Ruben's Ranchito. Ruben and other locals in the area always referred to people from Santa Cruz as Tecolotes, owls. Thereto our creative director Kari Crist created a beautiful hand-carved woodblock print of an Owl's face and we officially named the new wine "Para Maria de los Tecolotes" For Maria of the Owls.

VINTAGE
The even heat of 2014 began in March and allowed ample time for ripe flavors to develop. Nights stayed relatively warm, allowing for tannins to become rounder. Across the board, wines are deliciously accessible and ready to drink!

AT THE WINERY
The majority of Para Maria was foot trod immediately upon sorting into concrete fermenters. The wine was pumped over for three weeks, with only an occasional punch down. The resulting wine has fine, integrated tannin. To play into the fresh profile of the early release red wine, 15% of the lot was fermented uncrushed, whole-cluster in a sealed carbonic environment. Despite making no effort to extract skin influence, this portion came out dark purple in color, medium bodied, and with a lively zing across the palate.

SENSORY
Dark and dense Syrah with an inviting, lush nose. The 15% carbonic element gives the wine added freshness and even a nice pop of liveliness and energy. Delicious and drinkable young, with blue-black fruit.

--Winemaker