Apsara Las Madres Vineyard Syrah Carneros 2016

Robin Akhurst fell in love with wine during his time at Edinburgh University, so much so that upon graduating, he hopped on a vintage motorcycle, crossed the English Channel, and drove down to Provence to start pursuing his dream. Between the rewarding hard work of harvest, and the natural beauty of the sun-drenched vineyards of the South of France, he realized that a typical 9 to 5 job was not in the cards for him. Two years later, and with an enology degree in hand, it dawned on him that he possessed the book knowledge to make wine but needed to discover the wider world of wine through practical experience. And since harvest only occurs once a year, he decided to hemisphere-hop a bit to have more opportunities to practice his craft. Since that time, he has worked with the likes of Anne Claude Leflaive at Domaine Leflaive in Burgundy, Matt Wenk of Two Hands Wines in the Barossa, Thomas Brown of Schrader/Outpost Cellars, and Mike Smith of Myriad /Carter Cellars in the Napa Valley. With his charming brogue and star-studded résumé, Robin has now started his own delightful label, Apsara Cellars, with his lovely wife Aneeta. 

Before embarking on his worldwide quest for wine insight, Robin met Aneeta 20 years ago in the steamy jungles of Indonesia while both were studying biology and environmental science. Since then, they've globetrotted together, turning their passion for science and ecology into careers in the visual arts, viticulture, and enology. Then, in 2009, they settled with their young family in Petaluma, in Sonoma County, so that Robin could pursue winemaking and Aneeta could continue to hone her filmmaking and storytelling through a scientific lens. When choosing a name for this project, they settled on Apsara, which is the Sanskrit word for an angelic dancer whose elegant movements reflect the elements of balance, purity, and expression in the bottle of wine. 

Sourcing grapes from some of Sonoma's most outstanding vineyards helps Robin to create wines that show a focused purity of flavor, chiseled out with a balance of fruit, tannins, and acidity. This Syrah comes from the Las Madres vineyard in the rolling hills of Carneros, which benefits from the coastal fog that maintains acidity in the grapes. This vibrant characteristic is aided by the fact that the vineyard is shaped like a natural bowl, which allows the vines to benefit the most from the diurnal shift in temperature. The grapes were entirely destemmed, and Robin kicked off fermentation in stainless steel tanks using a strain of yeast native to the Syrah grape’s ancestral home in the Côtes du Rhône. The wine is intensely aromatic, with hints of dark stewed plums, black olives, violets, cracked pepper, and smoked meat. Full-bodied yet elegant and balanced, we have to commend Robin on a job well done. With only 50 cases produced, we feel quite lucky to share this delightful wine with you!