Now that harvest is a month or two behind us, and the hustle and bustle of crushing, pressing, and picking has come and gone, we now turn our attention to the 2025 wines that have in some cases just finished fermenting. This is a time where a winemaker can go through the wines slowly with an open mind and start to form the initial impressions of each wine. Of course, every wine changes over time, and will be significantly different by the time it is bottled, but in this time, one can start to put together pieces of the puzzle as to how the wines will come together as a vintage. It is also a good time to reflect on all the decisions made during harvest and see the effect they had on the wines while it’s all still fresh on your mind. One such decision was to co-ferment Syrah with about ten percent Roussanne. This is something that is often done in the Rhone where Viognier is commonly fermented with Syrah to stabilize color, add complexity to the fruit, and lift the aromatics. However, this is the first time we have tried this here at Sierra Vista. We chose to do this in particular due to the unique aromatics of the Roussanne this particular year. With mild temperatures the Roussanne ripened at a slower pace and developed very lovely spicy and floral aromas. The timing was perfect, just two days after picking the Roussanne as it had settled in tank we picked our last pick of Syrah. We had racked ninety percent of the Roussanne to barrel, but decided to leave that last ten percent in the tank that we crushed our freshly picked Syrah into, and fermented both in tank together. So far, we are very pleased with the early results with the Syrah showing elevated fruit characteristics and fresh aromatics not common with our Syrah on its own. We are very pleased with the initial impression of the wine and intend to try more Rhone red and white co-fermentations in the future.