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Wine Details
Price:
$26.00 per bottle
Description:
This AVA, above the Salinas Valley floor, has a microclimate allowing long "hang times" to intensify flavors of Pinot Noir grapes. After crush there was a four-day maceration prior to fermentation. The contact between the cap and juice involved hand punch-down to insure gentle treatment during the extended fermentation. The wine was finished by a single careful rack and bottled unfiltered. We are pleased with it's style - an overall bold character with flavors of fig, vibrant plum, raspberry and violet. It is deep in color and has a velvety feel on the palate. Additional complexity is derived from the vineyard location consisting of gently sloping, decomposed granite soils. Our first vintage from this vineyard was the 1998 release, whose structure remains intense (ask for library samples). We believe this wine will further evolve and gain complexity during extended cellaring.
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Varietal Definition
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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