Seeds of success.

Vinomaker and I pressed off our Syrah today and I am happy to report that the young wine looks great - fantastic colour extraction - and has a very fruit-forward aroma.  The general consensus in the valley this year, now that the majority of grapes have been harvested, is that 2012 is going to be a stellar vintage.
Perhaps, one more indication of how fantastic 2012 has been as a growing season is to take a quick peep inside, in this case, a Syrah berry.  Whilst four seeds is considered the perfect number of seeds in a grape, two is more normal - at least here in Vinoland.  Climatic and nutritional conditions at bloom can really affect the success of fertilisation in the embryonic grape, so to see four seeds is evidence that the vines were loving life at that particular stage of their development.
Of course, double the number of seeds also doubles the potential amount of seed-derived compounds in wine, some of which are undesirable in higher concentrations   That is why, when pressing off wine, it is important to press as gently as possible to avoid breaking the seeds and releasing any compounds non grata. Pity I can't personally squish every single berry by hand.