2005 Gold Coast Vineyard Pinot Noir

The Vintage
Sometimes the quality of the vintage reveals itself from the very beginning. The aromas coming out of the fermenter are quite evolved early on and you recognize the resulting wine will be fantastic. 2005 was just such a vintage. With winter rains of 39 inches during the vines’ dormant months, a healthy and sound crop developed with only a small amount of penicillia forming on about 15 % of the cluster. Gold Coast, much like Sleepy Hollow, is a victim of the strong winds and foggy moisture that often challenge this vineyard. We consistently face issues of botrytis and penicillia even with an aggressive spraying regime of copper and sulphur. Penicillia form around the bottom of the berry and attack the skin cells forcing them to break open and weep. Our experience thus far with this problem appears to be a reduction in yield whereas the skin-to-juice ratio is altered in favor of the skins. Overall the fruit that made its way into the fermenters was sound and healthy after the second triage. Harvest took place on September 16 and 26, 2005.

The Vineyard
Gold Coast Vineyard is located on Foxen Canyon Road, six miles east of Santa Maria, atop a bluff at Fulgar’s Point. This point sits up high enough and juts out far enough to catch the winds and fog that blow through the Valley. 19 acres of Pinot were planted in 1989 on 6 X 10 spacing trellised to a vertical shoot position. The scion wood is a Martini selection taken from Sierra Madre Vineyard located nearby in Santa Maria Valley and the soil is comprised of Sorrento Sandy Loam.

The Production
Only the best Pinot Noir grape clusters are handpicked in the vineyard in the early morning hours when the fruit is still cool. Pinot Noir has a tendency to ferment very quickly thus preventing full color and flavor extraction. To arrest the on-set of immediate fermentation, dry ice is added to small open-top fermenting vats. This “cold soak� at 10° Centigrade slows fermentation while saturating the juice with rich fruit flavor and true Pinot Noir color.

Concomitant with the primary fermentation is malolactic fermentation (malic acid to lactic acid), which reduces the total acid and imparts softness to the wine. The grapes are pigeaged (foot treaded) 3 to 5 times daily to extract color and tannin. We then press the wine at 1 - 2 % sugar and allow it to complete fermentation in barrel; this helps integrate the qualities of oak in the wine. The wine was aged in 36-month old, extra-tight grain Sirugue barrels from the Allier forest of which 40 % were new. Elevage lasted for 22 months and the finished wine was bottled in mid July. The wine has spent 10 months in bottle and is scheduled for release May 15, 2008.

Technical Data
3.53ph		359 - six packs
5.9 g/l
14 % alcohol
.39 ppm dissolved oxygen
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