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Our Wines
2008 Napa Valley "Haynes Vineyard"
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About the Vineyard...
This block of the Haynes
Vineyard, located in a cool pocket of the southeastern Napa Valley, is a
part of California wine- making history. Mt. George, the once-active
volcano that coated this region with its characteristic layer of
volcanic soils, looms to the north, and in the upper blocks of Haynes,
original vines, planted in 1966 by Pat and Duncan Haynes, continue to
produce balanced, fully-ripened Pinot Noir, boasting ethereal perfumed
aromas and a delicate and elegantly silken texture. Fernando Delgado has
lived on and managed the care for these wizened since 1970. The vines
are old Martini selection, planted under the auspices of Louis Martini,
Sr., himself. The Haynes Vineyard, in a part of Napa little known to the
world at large but oft-lauded by locals, attracted none other than the
great Andre Tchelistcheff, who believed strongly in this vineyard’s
potential to make great wines and was an early winemaker on the
property. This is a one-of-a-kind vineyard, possessing a singular
terroir, which we endeavor to give a full and unmitigated expression in
this limited bottling.
About the Vintage...
The
difficulties of this vintage only helped to emphasize the beauty of
established, healthy, old vine root systems. These old vines withstood
the stress of the drought and produced healthy, ripe fruit of a decadent
concentration. The vines achieved a level of balance naturally, in the
face of extreme weather conditions, and what started out like difficult
year resolved itself into a solid vintages. The normal elegance of this
vineyard is complemented by a distinctly more concentrated fruit
component and rich tannins.
About the Wine...
This
wine represents one of the most unique viticultural projects we have
endeavored to undertake. One of the potential downsides in working with
vines of this age and from this origin is the amount of old vines that
have succumbed to viral infection. In order to cull only the finest
fruit from the healthiest vines, we walked the entire block, checking
each vine individually, and identifying and tagging the healthy,
disease-free stock. At harvest, we picked only the ripened clusters from
the healthy, tagged vines. We fermented the wine in an open-top
fermenter, with traditional hand punch-downs. The wines enjoyed a
lengthy eighteen months in Taransaud Bourgogne cooperage. 54 cases
produced.
Tasting Notes...
Light in color,
gossamer in texture, this is a wine emphasizing grace and balance and
subtle textures. The nose is airy and lively, belying its complex and
layered nature. Initial fruits of strawberry, cranberry, and dried
cherry intermix with butterscotch, blood orange zest, lilacs, rose
petals, and sandlewood. On the midpalate, the fruit concentrates
somewhat, fresh summer cherries and ripened, cured black cherries. The
palate is especially bright and expansive, with a silken texture. It
finishes with a light, understated grip, and moves backward through the
finish. The fruits and spices of the palate nicely mirror the nose,
however the finish continues to evolve toward more earthen and mineral
notes, as it coats the entire palate and continues to reveal new
aromas.
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