The Chardonnay & Flower Project

Coming Soon.

The Grape

Syrah is the best grape—fight us! The grapes in Spark & Fire come from the famed Hyde Vineyards in Carneros, Napa. Founded in 1979, and recognized as the 2020 Napa Valley Grower of the Year, Hyde is renowned for their commitment to sustainable farming practices that produce grapes with concentration and quality. It remains a fiercely independent and family-owned operation to this day. I’ve never met the family, but I like to think of them as a band of winemaking pirates who would rather die by the sword than succumb to overly-ripe, overly-extracted, overly-alcoholic, and overly stupid wine styles that have afflicted so many California wines over the last 15 years (you know who you are).

Anyway. Los Carneros AVA, straddling both Napa and Sonoma counties, boasts a cool climate due to marine fog and San Francisco Bay breezes which leads to slower ripening (this results in more concentrated flavors without over-ripening in wine speak) and electric acidity (like chewing on a Starburst). Sandy loam soils yield grapes that are intense, aromatic, and full of fruit and minerality. Yum!

2023 was full of warm days and cool nights producing a nice-long growing season. “Exxxcellent!” - Mr. Burns

2023 Hyde Valley Syrah

This is no bathtub wine. We partnered with The Wine Foundry, a state-of-the-art custom crush and contract winemaking facility in Napa.

Harvested by hand in October 2023. From there, the grapes did a 4-day cold soak (not because it’s a fashionable wellness fad; it enhances aroma and color, and softens the tannins) followed by a 12-day primary fermentation, and then a 10-day extended maceration. Malolactic conversion occurred in barrel.

The wine took a nice long nap in French oak barrels. 16 months of aging in all.

97% Syrah, 2% Grenache, 1% Mourvèdre

The Wine

When it was time to blend, our goal was preserving the character and label designation of Hyde Vineyards. This meant starting with 97% Syrah and tasting eight different combinations to land on our final “blend.” A bit of Grenache (2%) adds light fruitiness and freshness, while a dash of Mourvèdre (1%) brings some mid-palate tannin and backbone for aging.

Tasting Notes:

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The Sunburst

Artwork by Radovolsky. Acrylic on canvas.

Painted during gloomy winter months longing for sunnier days. It represents warmth and optimism. It’s how you should feel when opening a bottle of wine. It’s beautiful. See for yourself.

Abstract inspiration

The label

Clean, modern, wrap-around design on the front.
A tanka (short Japanese poem) on the back.

Artwork by Radovolsky.
Label Design by Ashley Rocha.