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2005 Preston Ranch Pinot Noir
2005 Pinot Noir, Clone 115, Preston Ranch, Russian River Valley
The 2005 Vintage was notably cooler than the the 2003 and 2004. Grapes for this single clone selection were harvested on September 12 at 25 Brix. The early morning pick meant cool fruit that could be cold-soaked for a slow extraction of fruity aroma esters and bright color. The must was yeasted with Assmanhausen on September 15, a great strain for Pinot because it ferments quickly once it gets started and has a stabilizing effect on Pinot color.

Following 17 days on skins, the ferment was pressed off on September 27th and barreled down with malolactic bacteria in Francois barrels and Damy barrels (40% new). By November, the bacterial fermentation was completed, giving the young wine a faint hazelnut aroma and softening its texture. Stirring every 2-4 weeks continued until July, when the wine was gelatin fined and then racked and blended for bottling on August 8. 2006. Only 357 cases were produced.

Pinot Noir Clone 115 in this rather cooler vintage has yielded a young wine of finesse and great structure. Fruit is tightly focused on berry rather than cherry notes. Expansive chewy tannins fill the mouth while ample fruit flavors of berry-cherry vie with toasty oak. This is not yet a sipper; it cries out for food to accompany its long oak finish. After more than a year in the bottle, it’s just beginning to open up and reveal its potential as a truly powerful and aging worthy Pinot Noir.
$35.00/Bottle; 15% case discount
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2004 Russian River Cuvee is Available Now!
2004 Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley Cuvee
I’m fortunate to give each vintage of Pinot at least 12 months of bottle age prior to release. Perhaps more than any other varietal except Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot seems to need the time in bottle for the texture to knit together and for the fruit and oak characters to begin to meld into a seamless whole. The 2004 is silky and richly extracted. Swirling this beautiful garnet colored wine releases aromas of cigar box spice, sandalwood, chocolate, and dried cherries. Lovely flavors of cherry jam, violet perfume and perfectly toasted oak trip lightly across the palate. Each swirl wafts more exotic spice from the glass. A very complex young wine, the 2004 Russian River Cuvee is ready for release in August 2006.
$40.00/Bottle; 15% case disount
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2003 Keefer Ranch Pinot Noir
2003 Pinot Noir, Keefer Ranch, Russian River Valley
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$45.00/Bottle

About the 2004 Russian River Cuvée
Fruit for the 2004 Russian River Cuvee was sourced from 2 sites. The first is the Preston Ranch, located southwest of Healdsburg, off Eastside Road. It’s a gently sloping vineyard of light loam and rocky soils that end at the banks of the Russian River. The high areas are planted to Pinot and the lower sections, which are more gravelly and closer to the river, are planted to chardonnay.

Thankfully, the 2004 vintage was much more manageable in terms of heat. I began vineyard sampling on August 20 from a block of Clone 667 on 101-10 rootstock. These vines were 8 years old. I also became interested in the flavors of some very old vines, probably planted in the early 1970’s. They were identified as a Martini Clone (as in Louis Martini) grafted to St. George rootstock. St. George is drought tolerant but promotes vigor in the scion. This makes it more suitable to poorer soils but it is resistant to the root louse, Phylloxera, which is how these vines came to be so old and were only recently pulled out in favor of Dijon Clones like 667.
I continued sampling every other day or so until finally deciding to pick on August 31. Only 20% of the fruit came from the older vines, but they added a nice pluminess that I couldn’t resist. We picked into half-ton bins and rushed the fruit to the winery. We immediately destemmed the berries, gently crushed them and put them back into clean bins. I added dry ice for a cold soak of almost 5 days. I prefer dry ice because of its protective layer of gaseous carbon dioxide that hovers over the fruit and discourages microbial activity.

On September 5, I yeasted the bins with a strain called Assmanhausen: great for color stability, texture, and a strong finisher.

When the fermentation was almost over but the tank was still warm, I drained and pressed to a separate tank on September 13.

Keefer Ranch
In addition to Preston Ranch fruit, the 2004 contains 15% Keefer Ranch fruit, Pinot clone 23. It was picked almost 3 weeks later from the cooler Green Valley appellation near Graton in Western Sonoma County. Just shy of 2 tons, I fermented it in bins, which are much easier to punch down. The bins were covered and left outside overnight to cool during the most vigorous stage of fermentation. As the Cabernets were harvested in early October, all the Pinot Noir was pressed and transferred to French oak for malolactic and aging. The 5 Keefer barrels were blended in the bottling tank with the 13 barrels of Preston Pinot Noir. I call the blend “Russian River Cuvee”.

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