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Wine Details
Price:
$24.00 per bottle
Description:
Rising in the middle of the western Santa Ynez Valley, the Santa Rita Hills (SRH) are the distinguishing feature of our AVA, home of Lafond Vineyard and a wonderful area to grow Pinot Noir. The long, very cool growing season of this area is exemplified by February bud break and September harvest, a long period for vine physiology. We feel this long growing season is what imparts the complexity of flavor and fruit intensity to our Pinot Noir.
A tremendous amount of effort has gone into fine tuning the vineyard to coax this fickle grape into producing the exotic, elusive flavors only pampered Pinot Noir will reveal. Winemaker Bruce McGuire chooses very specific sites in the vineyard for each of his Pinot Noir selections. Several different Pinot Noir clones, some planted as early as 1983, add to the palette of flavor and texture from which to craft each Pinot Noir. In 2004, Bruce chose 6 clones from 16 vineyard lots (Lafond Vineyard and the nearby Arita Hills Vineyard) picked at ripness over a two week period. This was the third consecutive dry rain year which was reflected in small crop yields. The addition of a late season heat wave gave the already concentrated wines a fleshy quality without over ripe characteristics. The wine was aged in French oak from Burgundy (25% new oak) and bottled August 3, 2005. The complexity of flavor found in Pinot Noir from Lafond Vineyard is a wonderful match with savory foods and a classic with grilled salmon or mushrooms.
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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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