Amateur here. We are looking to plant an acre of Syrah in the Santa Cruz Mountains. We have been told that pinot would probably be more appropriate but for a variety of reasons have decided against it. We currently have about 1 acre of Chardonnay, fourth year but last year was wiped out by powdery mildew (tough learning curve!).
We are at about 800ft elevation and a mile or so as the crow flies from the ocean. We are usually above the fog line. We have produced dry-farm tomatoes commercially for decades so I think we have enough heat. We are one ridge west of where Randall Graham planted his famous Syah vineyard in the 80’s that unfortunately was wipe out by Pierce’s disease (I think?).
Any recommendations for clones? Thanks!
Check in with Big Basin, they have Syrah planted in the SCMs and IIRC, John Alban was the consultant when they planted in the last 90’s or very early 00’s
Do you make wine yourself or sell the fruit?
Curious as to what happened to your Chard. Are you trying to farm organic? Didn’t get good advice on a spray program? Improper equipment?
Thanks Mel, I will talk to Bradley about that. Appreciate the tip.
Casey- our main farmer thought he could wait until the first signs and then spray. Next year he will spray according to the calendar. A steep learning curve! We have been certified organic for close to 40 years (I have not been there for most of it.)
Adam -we only have made wine once, 2 years ago, and had that done by a local winemaker. The main farmer’s also use the grapes in one of their value added products.
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Hi Ian -
checking in to see if you got any recommendations for cool climate Syrah clones - I’m always looking up here in OR and end up talking to a number of prospective (and current) vineyard owners about what to plant. There is so much Pinot on the market here, as far as I can see, with more coming online as vineyards mature. Syrah would be fun to have more of up here.
Thanks for sharing if you got any feedback!
Still looking, but it has been discouraging how many people are talking about ripping Syrah out because they can’t sell it. We’ve sort of put a pause on it, but we’re gonna hopefully start again in the next few months, looking around. Please let me know if you find anything promising.
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Syrah isn’t tricky if you have wine people as customers, but it is tricky for distribution and retail. Always keep hearing about how it’s finally time for US Syrah to shine, but never seems to happen on broader scale. However, niche producers like Pax, A-R, Bedrock etc most likely all do very well with their Syrah. My own has also done pretty decent and I’m expanding that side in my Biograf-series, because apparently my Riesling series wasn’t enough of a challenge… 
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