For this humble winemaker, the dream continues. The 2011 vintage initially looked like a no-go with potential roadblocks at every corner in the form of a broken foot, low yields due to the cooler season and threat of rain. The cooler climate actually helped mitigate the broken foot challenges as the delayed harvest allowed me time to get out of a cast and begin doing my pimp walk in the vineyards with a boot. Unfortunately, with every call to a grower, who were always more than gracious to try and help, came a call that there just wasn’t enough fruit after fulfilling existing contracts or the rains had demolished the fruit. In the end one contact came through in the form of a small, relatively young vineyard of Pinot Noir in Sebastopol and the game was on.
The vineyard site is comprised completely of Sebastopol soil consisting of sandy loam on clay. This type of soil has more clay than the popular Goldridge soil, which consists of loam sandstone from volcanic events, and as a result retains less water leading to greater vine struggle. Sebastopol soil is the result of water flow off the Sonoma Mountains that carried with it clay deposits and consists of 2-3 feet of sandy loam lying on top of a layer of clay which forces the vine root system to stay near the service. This combination results in great water-holding capacity such that little to no irrigation is required.
The vineyard consists of Pinot Noir Dijon clones 115, 667, 777 and 828 on an eastern facing slope at over 900 feet elevation. The region is considered a very cool region 1 climate where the vineyard is warmer earlier in the day and cooler in the summer, when fog is most prominent, as the cool air is pushed upward. This results in longer, slower maturation of the grapes and phenolic composition, such that we will most likely pick around 2 weeks later than the Russian River Valley on average.
The fruit was picked before the rains came on October 1, 2011 at only 22 Brix. We left about 20% whole clusters in the bin and allowed spontaneous fermentation to occur. Once fermentation completely, the fruit was pressed and barreled down to neutral french oak. Secondary fermentation was also allowed to occur naturally and after 4 1/2 months is all but done (19 mg/L malic acid as of this writing). We are very pleased with how the wine is progressing in barrel maintaining an elegant style with aromas of rose petals, cherries and hint of spice in the recent months and round mouthfeel, flavor and currently a mineral finish on the palate. With each month, the color continues to strengthen but remains an exotic light ruby red hue.
Some more good news is that it looks as if we will be able to get fruit from this vineyard again for 2012. It looks like luck is back on our side.
October 18
February 16
Ed, that is awesome, despite the challenges. I am really excited to see you living the dream out there, and I look forward to hopefully getting a taste of some of the product of your labor one day. Cheers!
Thanks, Ben! We definitely need to get you a taste of what we’re trying to make here. Hope things are well with you … ready for baseball season?
Congratulations Ed! We are all proud of you and pulling for you. Hope it comes out perfect (Even if I’m not a Pinot lover)!
I am most definitely ready for baseball season. My heart always leaps when I first read the words, “pitchers and catchers report.”
Nice writeup, congrats! I did get a chuckle out of the “only 22 brix” though, the pinot we brought in this year never went about 20.8 or so. I suspect in CA those would be sparkling wine numbers but up here it was business as usual! Cheers
Thanks Robert! This wine will make you a Pinot lover soon enough!
Beau, I have seen many a 14.5% abv Pinot from Oregon which certainly isn’t achieved by picking at 20 Brix but I applaud you for it… for me it was more a matter of flavor and potential rain in the coming days
I am happy to pick with an opportunity for a more elegant style and retain more acid (naturally) than what many seem to be attracted to in the world of PN these days
I suspect you saw a lot of 2009′s that way, when the sugar levels were a lot higher..and the resultant wines were higher than those “14.5%” labels indicated. I know of at least three producers who were up past 15% abv. That and some folks sure do love chaptalization around here..So yea, don’t put too much stock in a 14.5% abv OR pinot as being dead-to-nuts right..
In a vintage like 2011, we HAD to pick at 20ish because that’s as ripe as the grapes were going to get, period. That and they were at phenological ripeness too, so in order to save the crop from the birds and weather, the decision was made. My point about the 22 brix comment was that up here that would be considered very ripe and some winemakers would be concerned that the finished wines would lose the elegant style you talk about.
Very good points, Beau. And as I understand it you guys should be happy to actually get fruit last year, we were down about a third across the board. I look forward to some nice wines from 2010-11 from Oregon no doubt. Looking forward to getting up there for WBC this year… you going?