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Wine Details
Price:
Description:
This is a blend of 45% from the Beaux Frères Vineyard and 36% from the famous Shea Vineyard from which we contract fruit, 15% from the old Ana Vineyard, and 4% from our one acre of Grenache planted on The Upper Terrace. In blind tastings, this was our finest blend. We loved its charm, wonderfully sweet black cherry and raspberry fruit, supple tannin, and captivating personality. We could have fashioned single vineyard cuvèes of the Ana and Shea vineyards as we did in 2002, increased the production of Beaux Frères, or bottled the Grenache separately, but this particular blend revealed the most texture, ripeness, complexity, and charm. It will be a delicious, medium to full-bodied Pinot Noir to drink during its first five to eight years of life, although we suspect it will keep longer. This wine was bottled unfiltered although several component parts were fined with one egg white per barrel to soften and sweeten the tannin. Anticipated Maturity: 2006-2014
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Varietal Definition
Grenache:
Grenache Noir is the world’s most widely planted grape used to make red wine, sometimes made into a stand-alone varietal, frequently as a Rosé, but most often as a backbone of red blends. Its strength is its ability to grow in arid and windy conditions. It’s particularly suited to warm coastal regions of California, Spain and France. Grenache-based wines tend to be high in alcohol, with attractive fruit qualities in youth and a sweet berry character.Used as a component in some Northern Rhône reds, nearly exclusively for Rhône Rosés and as the primary component in nearly all Southern Rhône red blends, Grenache is probably most notable as the base varietal for Chateauneuf du Pape, Cotes du Rhône and Gigondas. In spite of its fame coming from French wines, Spain is most likely this grape’s origin.
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Pinot Noir:
The name is derived from the French words for ‘pine’ and ‘black’ alluding to the varietals' tightly clustered dark purple pine cone shaped bunches of fruit. Pinot Noir grapes are grown around the world, mostly in the cooler regions, but the grape is chiefly associated with the Burgundy region of France. It is widely considered to produce some of the finest wines in the world, but is a difficult variety to cultivate and transform into wine. By volume most Pinot Noir in America is grown in California with Oregon coming in second. Other regions are Washington State and New York.During 2004 and the beginning of 2005, Pinot Noir became considerably more popular amongst consumers in the United States, possibly because of the movie Sideways. Being lighter in style, it has benefited from a trend toward more restrained, less alcoholic wines. It is the delicate, subtle, complex and elegant nature of this wine that encourages growers and winemakers to cultivate this difficult grape. Robert Parker has described Pinot Noir: "When it's great, Pinot Noir produces the most complex, hedonistic, and remarkably thrilling red wine in the world."
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