The Cellar

Bright red. Spicy redcurrant and strawberry on the nose, with a zesty white pepper quality adding energy. Shows deeper cherry and plum on the palate, but also offers vibrant minerality and a suave floral pastille character. Finishes with a crisp, exotic orange peel flavor and impressive length.

The grapes undergo a tremendous amount of triage (sorting) both in the vineyard and in the cellar. I consider this to be one of the most significant practices we employ. We can truly say only the best grapes go into our fermenters. Once they are received into the cellar we subject them to another sorting on the table and then into the fermenters. This whole cluster fermentation technique we believe contributes significantly to the aromatics and texture of our wines. It is the gentlest manipulation of Pinot Noir grapes possible. Once in the fermenters we cover the cap in dry ice to arrest any spontaneous fermentation that may occur. We prefer a pre fermentation maceration (cold-soaking) allowing the color and flavor to be extracted in the absence of fermentation for two or three days. During this time we pigeage (foot tread) twice a day increasing to five times a day at peak fermentation. The wine is usually pressed of at 1 or 2 brix into François Freres barrels from the Allier forest in the center of France. The wine will remain in barrel for 16 months without racking and will be bottled without fining or filtration. This wine received an additional six months of bottle ageing before release.