2002 Campion Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir

21 barrels produced

Throughout coastal California, there was very little bad Pinot Noir made in the 2002 vintage. All three of the appellations that Campion utilized made first rate wine, but my favorite of the three is the Santa Lucia Highlands. I distinctly recall standing next to the tank while this wine was at peak fermentation. The aroma was pouring down the side of the tank like some sort of scent waterfall. It was an amazing experience, and I remember thinking, “This wine is going to be killer!” This turned out to be the case. Wines in many ways are like children. With the good ones you only have to be careful not to screw them up. So I’ll take credit for not screwing this one up. Most of the credit goes to the exceptional combination of vintage and vineyard.

I used the Sarmento Vineyard exclusively for this wine. This vineyard is sited in the middle of the appellation on an eastern slope. The soils are cobblely, well drained and near perfect. The vineyard is relatively young. A combination of Dijon 115 and Pommard selections made up the blend. The crop was very small due to the extraordinarily small cluster size. I attribute much of the intensity of this wine to the tiny berries that these small clusters were comprised of. The weather in the final weeks of ripening was mild so the picking decision was unforced.

Great vintages also allow you to be very conservative or classical in your winemaking techniques. Making this wine was simplicity itself. I utilized a few days of cold soaking. The fermentation itself was another week or so, and it was pressed after about two weeks of total vatting time. The wine was aged in French oak barrels. One third of them were new. It was bottled after eleven months of aging.

As far as I’m concerned there is no such thing as too much flavor in a wine, but very young wines can be too exuberant from a fruit point of view. This was such a wine. Due to the very large 2001 vintage, the 2002s have had some time to calm down in the bottle and are showing decent finesse and vinosity now in 2005. I expect that this wine like most Campion will age gracefully. It should keep its youthful characteristics through 2007 if stored carefully.

Pinot Noir is ever the diplomat at the table. It gets along with almost everything. I have some personal favorites. In general I adore fowl with Pinot, in particular quail. Grilling and smoking as cooking techniques work very well with Pinot. There is a certain magic in pairing Pinot with a good mild goat cheese.

Larry Brooks<bR> winemaker