Tasting Notes

Release Date: Fall 2019

As the 2015-2016 winter season settled upon us, our five-year drought began to end with normal (a little above-normal) rainfall, and we breathed a sigh of relief. When your vineyard practice is 100% dry farmed, the onus of low rainfall can set you on edge. The joy of knowing that the one thing you can’t really control in life (rain) is abundant is true elation.

Pinot Noir is such an intriguing wine, often changing “styles” from vintage to vintage. Usually, our Estate Pinot is broad and somewhat muscular; this vintage is ethereal and musical with delicate, nuanced, soft red fruit aromas. The weight on the palate is building with enticing flavors of wintergreen, mint, and boysenberry. Years like 2016 reward patient cellaring. Prime examples such as 1996, 2000 an,d 2006 have all started their life focused on complexity rather than power. With time, the mid-palate grows and the magical savoriness of Pinot Noir shines.

Production

772

Tech Notes

Yield: 1.25 tons per acre

Harvest: August 16th- September 9th

Numbers @ Harvest: 23.2° Brix, 3.5 pH, 7.5 grams acidity

Barrel Regimen: French Burgundy 50% new, 50% 1 year

Bottling: August 2017, no fining or filtration

Alcohol: 13%

Reviews

93 points Wine Enthusiast Magazine - October 2019

Roasted red plums, minty tarragon, roasted herbs and a hint of game show on the complex nose of this bottling from a mountainside legend. Those layers emerge on the palate too, floating from raspberry to thyme and anise to peppered meats, with loads of savory depth. —M.K

93 points Robert Parker Jr's The Wine Advocate - February 2020, Week 1

Pale to medium ruby-purple, the 2016 Pinot Noir Estate opens with notes of warm earth, tree bark, saline and smoke, giving way to wild blackberries, oolong tea leaves, and citrus peel, crushed stone and a core of savory red and black berry fruit. The palate is light to medium-bodied, featuring spicy fruits and mineral nuances, with a soft frame of grainy tannins and juicy freshness, finishing very long and perfumed. —E. B.

91 points Antonio Galloni presents Vinous - October 31, 2019

The 2016 Pinot Noir is an attractive and highly expressive wine, but it is also a bit light relative to the norm here. Red berry fruit, blood orange and a range of floral/savory notes are all very nicely lifted. Given its mid-weight structure, I would prefer to drink the 2016 on the earlier side, although that, too, is relative. These Pinots have a track record of aging gracefully, something that was evident when I tasted through a vertical for an upcoming article a few months ago. The 2016 was done with 35% whole clusters and saw 50% new oak.