Pax Syrah The Bench Clements Hills 2020

Notes from the producer: Pax and Pam moved to wine country in 1997 to create a lifestyle that involved working with wine. After a few years of tasting and sourcing wine from all over California, Pax finally found a vineyard in which he felt a kismet connection. Alder Springs Vineyard was the site and subsequently led to the launch of the PAX brand in 2000.

The Mahles made a bold choice by favoring the “untapped potential"  of the Syrah grape. Their entire lineup of wines came from cool climate vineyards in  Sonoma County and Mendocino. These wines were big, rich expressions of Syrah that went on to be highly sought after. As a result, Pax quickly became established as one of California’s premier producers of Syrah.

Presently, Pax Wines has evolved to include new and exciting varieties in addition to Syrah. This includes Trousseau Gris, Chenin Blanc, Gamay Noir, and Mission, along with a host of others recently planted. 

At Pax Wines winemaking is approached holistically. This is done by taking care to use only grapes that are grown without the use of chemicals and by hand making their wines with as little intervention as possible. As a result, all of their wines are crushed by foot and hand, and fermented using only natural yeasts.

The Bench Vineyard in the Clements Hills AVA receives cooling winds from The Golden Gate Wind Gap. The soils are low-fertility and fine-grained, derived from granite and tufa, which in turn make fine-grained wines, like this Syrah. 

This 100% Syrah was fermented whole-cluster and aged in 500L French oak puncheons for 6 months before bottling with no fining or filtration, and very little SO2. It perfectly walks the line between the Rhone and California. It’s a touch earthy and spicy on the nose, with hints of violets and black pepper. On the palate it’s light to medium bodied, and full of savory red fruit and black pepper again. It really is fine-grained, too. It likes a little bit of a chill, and will drop sediment as it ages.