Winemaker Notes

The Estate Vineyard bottling exists because it is both delicious and unique, but also because it shows a particular aspect of this vineyard and the Ribbon Ridge AVA as a whole. This bottling is made up nearly entirely from vines with 12-24 years in vine age, with a large amount being right at 22 years. We have discovered that at around 25 years of vine age we often see a change in the vines’ nature as they become bigger and healthier plants with deep root systems. Before this happens, the vines tend to produce fruit that is bigger, bolder, plumper and more succulent at a young age than the older vines’ wines. Therefore the Estate bottling is the richest and most precocious of all our Estate Vineyard Pinot Noirs. The fruit will have a black/blue tinge to it, the mid-palate should be generous and supple and the finish should have some structure in a fairly generous manner. Despite what might be described as a more “obvious” style bottlings dating back to 2003 and 2002 are showing incredibly well at this point.