2001 Edna Valley Pinot Noir

48 barrels bottled in 750ml

This vintage was classic in the sense that it produced wines of perfect balance. The season was mild to a fault which made for some interesting conundrums. This year I discovered there is such a thing as too nice a weather. The year began early which is a good thing for red wine, but then settled into a cool moist pattern that never exerted any stress on the vines. As a result the berries and clusters were so happy that they achieved record size. This meant that there was less color and tannin available than usual, but there was an abundance of fresh fruit and floral flavors. I changed technique to achieve sufficient color and extract.

The sole source for this wine was the Firepeak Vineyard. It is our first Edna Valley Pinot Noir. Firepeak sits on a low ridge just south of the town of San Luis Obispo. The soils are volcanic not the typical clay loams of the valley floor. This warmer drier soil gives the vines an advantage. It has been known since antiquity that hillside sites make better wines. The vineyard has many good clones. We used three of them in this wine; 2A which is perfectly adapted to the region, Dijon 777 which gives color and structure, and Dijon 115 which brings perfume and lift. We co-fermented a small percentage of Pinot Gris as well to fill the mid palate and increase spice aroma. It is a testament to the quality of the year that we were able to pull 20% out as a single vineyard reserve without diminishing the richness of this appellation bottling. This wine is the darkest and fullest of the three appellations in 2001.

Winemaking is the simplest part. If you understand the vintage then the techniques that will yield the best wine are obvious. This vintage needed a long cuvaison in order to achieve balance. It wanted to be a light fruity Beaujolais type wine. It needed prodding to achieve a more substantial structure. A three week extraction, 50% longer than normal was the critical decision for this vintage. The fermentations took place in open top fermenters that were punched down. The wine was aged for eleven months in French oak barrels 1/3 of which were new. It was racked once to make the blend in early spring.

It is always difficult to speak of flavor. The parts of our mind that perceive flavor are not the verbal parts. Metaphor can be used to evoke the emotional response that is the essence of a delicious wine. These metaphors are individual and personal. Sometimes it is best not to speak too specifically about such things. What I might say to express this wine could elucidate it for you, or it could confuse and embarrass you. It’s best that you invent your own words for this wine. My highest compliment for a wine is that it is typical. Everything is there that should be and nothing is there that should not.

With food it is so much easier to talk. Pinot goes with just about everything. I have my favorites one of which is quail, another is goat cheese. Pinot is perfect with roast chicken heaven with grilled salmon. I am very happy to have nothing more complicated than bread and butter with it. The more complex the wine, the simpler the food needs to be.