2006 PINOT NOIR

SIERRA MADRE VINEYARD, SANTA MARIA VALLEY

The 2006 Pinot Noir opens beautifully in the glass, with refined aromas of ripe red cherry, violet, strawberry, and barrel toast. Its bright acidity balances nicely with rich flavors of red plums, black cherry, brown spice, and anise. Additional cellaring of this, our premiere vintage of Sierra Madre Pinot Noir, will encourage development of classic earthy, forest-floor notes in the wine, and will hasten the softening of its subtle but firm tannins. Long on the palate, this wine offers a sleek silky, cherry-strawberry finish. It will age gracefully in the bottle for many years to come.

The 2006 growing season was characterized by relatively cool conditions during the spring and early summer months. As the season progressed, sunny conditions prevailed, and our fruit achieved optimal maturity during the fall, with cool nights protecting our grapes in their slow march to ripeness. The pick eventually took place on October 12, with clean, ripe Pinot Noir grapes reaching ideal flavor and color balance.

Selectively hand-harvested, the fruit was rapidly transported to the winery, where the freshly destemmed grapes were treated to a three day cold soak to extract soft skin tannins. The vats were then inoculated with AMH yeast and a slow, steady two-week fermentation ensued. Cap management involved multiple daily, manual punchdowns to facilitate complete maceration and optimal extraction of the best qualities from the fermenting must. Pressing was handled gently, in a small basket press at capfall, with care taken to not bruise the tender berries. The new wine was aged in a combination of barrels from several European cooperage sources, including both French and Hungarian oak, imparting a subtly toasty, elegant wood character to the developing wine. In all, this wine spent ten months maturing in barrel prior to blending and bottling. At blending time, Winemakers Kenneth Volk and Steve Rasmussen had several lots from which to choose, to make this very small production wine. They ended up selecting a single lot of Dijon Clone 777. Known for rich, dark, deep bodied fruit with high-toned aromatics, this clonal selection of Pinot Noir is highly-sought-after by those winemakers who have experienced its lovely nature in the vineyard and the cellar.