Stolpman Para Maria Red 2021

Winemaker’s Notes

Stolpman Para Maria Red (de los Tecolotes) 2021

BACKGROUND
Maria Solorzano, this wine’s namesake, appears shy around visitors and she is always quick to smile. For anyone that sees her in action, it is clear that she leads by the example of her hard-work. Most comfortable in her routine of perpetual motion out on the vineyard – Maria runs perhaps the hardest working, most passionate vineyard crew in the world. On a daily basis, she teaches La Cuadrilla new techniques to execute a constant barrage of experiments – often adapting on the fly – figuring out practical ways of farming ridiculously high-density vineyards by hand or training canopies for ideal shading and wind-flow.

Label Art: The nickname for villagers from Santa Cruz, Jalisco; Maria’s hometown, is “Tecolote” – or night owl. The name stems from the popular late night parties thrown in the town. Maria and La Cuadrilla also turn nocturnal for three months out of the year to harvest in the cold night air for maximum freshness. A resident female Great Horned Owl is the most prolific rodent control beast on the vineyard.

The Para Maria Brand is a 50-50 partnership between the Stolpman and Solorzano families.

Varietal Blend
80% Syrah, 20% Petite Verdot

Vinification
40% Syrah (whole-cluster Carbonic Fermentation in sealed tank)
40% Syrah (de-stemmed, traditional open top fermentation)
20% Petite Verdot (de-stemmed, traditional open top fermentation)

Cooperage/Elevage
100% neutral oak barrels for 9 months