Carbonic Syrah in the Bottle, Get Ready to Taste!

This week, we’re discussing one of last year’s most exciting experiments in the winery with SAMsARA Winemaker, Matt Brady. Team member Martial Chaput recently sat down with Matt to learn more about SAMsARA’s co-fermented, carbonic Syrah. You can read our first interview about the making of the carbonic Syrah-Viognier here.

Hi Matt, thanks for taking the time to tell us more about SAMsARA’s first carbonic Syrah, very soon to be released.

Of course, always happy to chat with you. 

So, a few days ago, you and the team bottled some of the wines, including the carbonic Syrah. Can you tell us how this new SAMsARA wine is tasting, as it is about to be released?

Yes, we bottled the carbonic Syrah on the 31st of July, and I’m really happy with how it’s tasting! Honestly it might just be my favorite wine that we bottled this summer. I’m really excited about stretching more in that direction, both this year and moving forward.

Was the bottling process different for a carbonic wine?

No, there’s not a different process. We intentionally have the SO2 a little bit lower than most of our other wines, just because we presume that this wine will be consumed early. If we had bottled it earlier in the year, it probably would have been a little bit more active and effervescent. But, because we bottled it after about eight or nine months in barrels, it’s a fresh, energetic red wine, but I wouldn’t say it’s effervescent.

How would you see this carbonic Syrah best enjoyed?

I think it’s a barbecue wine! Imaging the sun’s shining, you’re outside, and you serve it slightly chilled, or even at cellar temperature. We think it will be a real crowd-pleaser, because there’s lots of upfront fruit that’s crunchy and fresh. You can sink your teeth into it a little, but it doesn’t have the tannic backbone or the body that traditional Syrahs have. It’s a little bit lighter in body and just really hits that pleasure zone.

The wine contains about 5% Viognier. Can you taste the influence of the Viognier in the wine?

It doesn’t really scream Viognier, which we think is perfect. Co-fermenting with Viognier is really similar, in my mind, to using whole cluster or using new oak, where you want it to be there, but you don’t want it to be obvious. And we achieved that with the carbonic Syrah. The wine is really aromatic, and to me, that’s the biggest role that Viognier plays. When you use it as a component in a co-fermentation, the wine just get super aromatic. I don’t know that it necessarily smells like Viognier, it’s just more lifted and more powerful, aromatically.

Sounds great. Do you know when it will be released?

It’ll first be released to club members, on September 21st. There’s only 70 cases produced, and we expect that they’ll go quick!

Excellent. Thanks, Matt. We look forward to tasting this special wine!

Thanks for reading our latest interview! We expect this wine to sell out fast. If you wish to get priority access, we encourage you to join our wine club. You can also join our mailing list to be first to know when our carbonic Syrah will be available for purchase for non club members.