2006 Pinot Noir - Santa Rita Hills

Appellation: Santa Rita Hills
Site: Gaia Vineyard
Soil: Fine silt, sandy loam, and clayey loam with intermittent skeletal influence.
Clones: 777, Pommard, 115, 113, 114, and 2A
Cases Produced: 1,650
Elevage: Aged on the lees in 50% new French oak from multiple coopers for 17 months.  Barrels were stirred weekly until the completion of malolactic fermentation.  Bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Price: $40

Winemaker's Notes:
A deep garnet color in the glass, the wine is brimming with fruit aromas of cherries, strawberries, and blueberries along with a pretty cherry-cola scented nuttiness. The wine is ethereal in the mouth with a rich, sappy fruit core backed by subtle Asian spices and gentle tones of cedar and vanilla. The finish is long, with echoes of kirsch and blue skinned plum followed by a refreshing acidity.

Hand harvested in the cool morning hours, the grapes were twice sorted (cluster and berry) and fermented in 2 ton stainless steel fermenters.  After a gentle pigeage, the grapes were cold soaked for 3 to 5 days and then warmed and allowed to ferment using indigenous yeast. Once the cap formed a combination of punch downs and pump overs were used during the course of fermentation.  At the end of fermentation, the wines were drained directly to barrel via gravity.  Press wines were kept separate and only a small portion was included in our final blend.  Natural malolactic fermentation was then completed in barrel.

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