Newsletter
Hello Members,
This harvest could be a challenging vintage due to cool weather for most of the summer, but we are focused and optimistic on producing top-quality wines. Long, cool opening seasons can be ideal for complexity and ageability. The normal size crop looks great, but we were about four weeks behind a normal growing season. However, we had some warm sunny weather
recently, and we harvested the Estate vineyard on Thursday, October 5th! Amazing!
Harvesting times are all over the board in the Santa Cruz Mountains this year. Some in late September, and it will continue through October. Just depends on the weather and elevation.
Our Estate Pinot Noir fruit is pristine, clean, and very healthy. The crop load is only three tons per acre, producing a mere 180 cases per acre. We have a four-clone mix in the three-acre vineyard, always creating wine of finesse, elegance, and fruit-driven in style.
Your October release is the 2018 Sunny Knoll Pinot Noir. The Sunny Knoll Vineyard is located on Pleasant Valley Road in Corralitos. The growing season was perfect, a long dry summer with cool mornings and warm afternoons allowing the fruit to develop intense flavors. After a 2-day cold soak on dry ice, and a 10-day fermentation, the wine was aged in French Damy barrels. It displays a mix of black cherry, spice, cinnamon, and pomegranate.
Each barrel was fire-toasted to a medium toast level to produce a very complex wine. The tannins are polished and refined, and the length is long and displays sweet, creamy French oak on the fruit. Aging potential 2023-2026.
We hope you are enjoying the wines produced at our hilltop winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
We hope to see you this month for the Annual Harvest Celebration. Our tanks may be filled with Pinot Noir fruit so you might be able to see the fermentation process up close and in person.
Thank you for your continued support!
Sincerely,
Peter Bargetto, Partner