2005 Francesca Pinot Noir

The History
As a father and a winegrower, it occurred to me that I should produce a wine to commemorate the birth of my daughter. Not just any wine, but a special wine that would not only reflect my interpretation of what I would consider to be the best possible wine I could put together as a blend in the cellar, but also a wine that could possibly go the distance and would be in some way a legacy that I would leave for her. It could not be just a wine from a certain vineyard rather it must be an assemblage of the best of the existing vineyards that I currently work with. This would be a wine that could be separated from the sense of place and would be a reflection of her as I see her. My interpretation of my daughter through wine as a medium would serve three purposes:

~A library for my daughter
~Wine to be donated to charities of her choosing, primarily children’s charities
~Wine for the consumer because we should share it

The Wine
For this, the fifth vintage of Francesca, I selected one barrel from the Pisoni Vineyard, one barrel of Sleepy Hollow split canopy, one barrel of Clos Pepe, 22 gallons of clone 115 and 11 gallons of clone 31 from Dierberg along with 11 gallons of clone 115 and 11 gallons of clone 777 from Fiddlestix. These barrels were the best examples from each site and they met the criteria I had set: Low pH and low alcohol with great acidity and perhaps the ability to hang around until Francesca was in her mid-twenties. Given the blend, 50.6% from Santa Lucia Highlands, 34.9 % from Santa Rita Hills and 14.4 % from Santa Maria Valley; the wine carries a Central Coast appellation. This seems apropos to me given that I have lived most of my life up and down the Central Coast of California.

As with all of our Pinot Noir in the 2005 vintage, this wine was aged in 36-month old, extra-tight grain Sirugue barrels from the Allier forest of which 40 % were new. It spent a total of 22 months in barrel and was bottled in mid July 2007 without fining or filtration. It remains in our cellar and is currently available only to our Grand Cru Society members.

Family Wines
Like so many other family owned businesses, I took the opportunity to produce something within my given craft that would be kept for our family and our very dearest of friends. In the case of the Francesca Pinot Noir and Hommage a Max Syrah (the wine I make for my son), these two wines total less than 200 six-packs in production. They are intended to be something very special and hopefully my very best effort. The bulk of these wines will be kept in my children’s library and taken out on birthdays and milestone celebrations. These two wines are also used to advance various charity causes that my children feel compelled to donate to. I am delighted that they understand on some level that the wines so named for them help to raise money for certain children’s charities and that they feel proud of their father and of their wines.

Technical Data
3.28ph		179 - six packs
7.4 g/l		60 - magnums
12.8 % alcohol		2 - 3 liter bottles
.43 ppm dissolved oxygen		5 - 5 liter bottles
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