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Wine Details
Price:
Description:
One of the distinguishing characteristics of the 2004 vintage was the heat spikes that punctuated the month of September. Because many of our vineyards are farmed impeccably they often achieve unusually low yields. Combine low yields and heat spikes and you run the risk of raisined fruit. Because 2004 looked like an earlier ripening year all along , we purposefully chose to leave more crop on the vines at several locations with the hope of slowing down the ripening process and avoiding the difficulties that go along with the aforementioned heat spikes. This truly paid benefits, especially at the Clos Pepe Vineyard . Because of the extra crop, the grapes were able to hang through the heat spell. We were then able to achieve our desired ripeness levels and the fruit came in at textbook numbers with an average sugar of 25 brix and a pH of 3.4. The resulting wine has flavors of cherry Jolly Ranchers, violets, and cigar box. The wine is quite full bodied , but with a strong backbone of acidity. This wine should be an ideal candidate for the cellar.
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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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