Our Wines

2005 Russian River Pinot Noir

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About the Vineyard...
Our 2005 vintage represents an evolution in the sourcing of our Russian River Pinot Noir. It comes entirely from Gilbert Perez’s 2 acre vineyard in the southwestern corner of the AVA. His vineyard lies closer to the chilly Pacific breezes as it is less protected by coastal hills. Gilbert’s vineyard is planted entirely to Dijon 115 on characteristic sandy Russian River soils. Formerly having produced the flavorful Gravenstein apples Sebastopol is known for, these soils transition nicely to produce explosively fruity Pinot Noirs with bright cherry flavors and spice.

About the Vintage...
The 2005 vintage was notable for its amazing consistency. The stretch run of harvest provided day after day of perfect ripening conditions - in the upper 70s for highs and down into the low 50s for lows. Flavors developed gradually finally punctuated by the arrival of the Harvest Moon. In 2005, the majority of our fruit came in during this period of the lunar cycle as we noticed a distinct amplification in the intensity of fruit flavors and ripeness.

About the Wine...
The grapes were 95% destemmed into an open top fermenter, 5% whole clusters where added at the bottom of the fermenter for added spice and structure. The 1 ton fermenters were cold soaked for 5 days. Our four separate fermentations were innoculated with RC 212 yeast or fermented with native yeast. Temperature spiked to 94°F ensuring excellent flavor extraction. We punched down by hand 4 times per day and pressed the grapes at dryness. The wine was aged entirely in French barrels from the Francois Freres cooperage, 50% new. The wine was racked once prior to bottling. Alc. 14 %, pH 3.62, ta 5.9 g/l. , r.s. 0.01 g/l. 336 cases produced.

Tasting Notes...
Juicy cherry, raspberry, and strawberry fruit followed by layers of red licorice, toast, pepper and baking spices. Velvety texture with lush sweet cherry, strawberry fruit, and spice echoing on the palate in a long, lingering finish with bright acidity. The wine is flashy and hedonistic, in the Russian River tradition! Drinks well at release or will age 4 – 6 years.