This Pinot Noir has a gorgeous black fruit profile with aromatic layers of blackberry, black cherry, herbal tobacco, and roasted coffee, as well as floral notes of violet and rose petals. The color is dark and inky—a signature of the Petaluma Gap AVA. On the palate, it is concentrated but elegant, with luxurious flavors of red raspberry and dusty oak supported by lushly textured tannins that linger on the long finish.
The fruit was gently destemmed into small open-top fermenters, using state-of-the-art equipment and procedures to avoid any pumping of the must. A three-day cold soak with daily pump-overs allowed us to extract color and tannin prior to fermentation. We then inoculated with select yeast strains that slowly build heat to produce aromatic compounds. In order to capture those compounds the fermentations were kept at cool temperatures. Wines were pressed off skins after a minimum fermentation of 14 days before being aged for 10 months in French oak barrels—30% new and 30% one-year-old—which enhanced the deep color and broadened the palate of this lovely wine. It was bottled on August 2nd, 2023.
The 2022 vintage was impacted by a third consecutive year of drought that resulted in a reduction in yields from 10-30%. The growing season was temperate, which in grape growing means we were on track, or ahead of normal growth. Then we saw some heat spikes that prompted our first picks. 2022 was a year for vintage-to-vintage variation and differentiation between vineyards. Fruit for our Petaluma Gap Pinot Noir was sourced from Calesa Vineyard and our own Nightwing Estate Vineyard. Harvest occurred on September 9th and August 29th of 2022, respectively.
The Petaluma Gap AVA was established in 2018 as a distinct area defined by the “Gap” in the coastal mountain range that borders the Pacific Ocean as well as the wind that rushes in off the ocean through the gap and cools down Sonoma County. Located about 30 miles inland from the Pacific, the AVA is shaped by the wind that funnels cooling breezes and fog into the region. This results in thick skins, low yields, dark colors, and exotic spice notes, as well as a rich and lifted palate presence.
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