Named After The Guy Who Gave Up
TASTING NOTES: “The 2021 Syrah is deep purple in color, showing both purity and intensity. The nose opens with alluring aromas of black raspberry, plum, and boysenberry layered with nuances of cocoa nibs, cracked pepper, dried herbs, and a touch of smoked tea. On the palate, the wine is vibrant yet rich, offering concentrated dark fruit wrapped in savory mineral notes and refined tannins. This wine is expressive and delicious. Enjoy!” (AbV 14.6% By Volume, pH 3.79, TA 0.59 g/100mL)
VARIETALS: 100% Syrah
BARRELS: 17 months French oak barrels and puncheons. 20% New.
PAIRS WITH: N/A
THAT REMINDS ME OF: Black raspberry, plum, and boysenberry — from the tasting note.
Boysenberry is the only fruit on that list with a rescue story attached. Rudolph Boysen, a California horticulturist, spent the 1920s crossbreeding blackberries, raspberries, and loganberries into a new fat purple hybrid, planted a few vines on his farm, and then — hurt his back, lost interest, whatever the reason — basically walked away from the project before it went anywhere. The vines sat there untended for years.
Walter Knott, a neighboring berry farmer, heard secondhand that Boysen had bred something interesting and went looking. He found the surviving vines barely alive in an abandoned field around 1932, dug them up, and nursed them back at his own farm. The berries were good enough that he named them after the guy who’d basically given up on them, put them on menus at his roadside stand, and the crowds that showed up for boysenberry pie eventually needed something to do while they waited for a table — which is, roughly, how Knott’s Berry Farm ended up an amusement park instead of just a berry stand.
