HARVESTED: August 17th-September 1th, 2016
VINEYARD LOCATION: Portola Valley, Saratoga, La Honda on either clay or sandy loam soils.
BOTTLED: February 2018, 500 cases
COMPOSITION: 100% Pinot Noir (Dijon clones 114, 115, 117, 666, 667, 777)
ALCOHOL: 13.4%
WINEMAKER: Colin McNany
NAME: ‘sequence’ of vineyards’ along Skyline, and part of SIlicon Valley’s vines/science heritage.
VINTAGE NOTES
After quite a serious multi-year drought, the winter rains almost returned to normal, bringing temporary relief to our heat stressed vineyards. January was warm and kicked the vines into a stage of advanced bud break. A cool summer helped push the harvest back about a week, allowing for maximum hang time. This hang time was very welcomed to encourage the phenological ripeness of the berries, developing ripe flavors and lignified tannins. We were able to harvest the vineyards successionally throughout September which resulted in some great wines to come.
WINEMAKING NOTES
We harvest our Pinot Noir sequentially with co-fermentation in mind, filling open top tanks and T-bins with vineyards matching fruit profiles. This year we experimented with 20% of the entire lot fermented whole cluster, providing extra structure and tannin. The rest of the vineyards were destemmed whole berry, and hand sorted on the shaker table. It is then tipped into 2 ton open top tanks and 1 ton bins. Then cold soaked to deepen color, roughly 3 days, followed by either inoculation of commercial yeast strains or native yeasts. The ferments are punched down by hand 3 times a day with peak fermentation temps hitting roughly 90 degrees F. The wine is left on skins for a total of 15-20 days via extended maceration. We press on taste, separating free run and basket pressed wine into designated French and Hungarian barrels, of which 1/2 are new. The wine undergoes 100% native malolactic and aged for 14 months. Unfined and unfiltered, always.
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TASTING NOTES
Elegant and spicy aromatics of wild raspberries, strawberries and sassafras lusciously lure you into the depths of the bottle. The palette rejuvenates with refreshing acidity intertwined with juicy rose petals, cherry cola, and dark cacao fine grain tannin.
CELLARING
Recommend aging potential is 3-5 years.