2005 Pisoni Vineyard Pinot Noir

The Harvest
The harvest of 2005 was characterized by two significant conditions at Pisoni Vineyard: rain and yields. Timely and extensive rains produced significant crop loads despite setting our buds at one- to two-per spur. Cluster weights and cluster counts were way up with additional energy going back to vine growth. Balancing this energy between plant and fruit became a first-time challenge here and we wanted to be cautious in how much fruit we dropped so as not to push the fruit out of balance. Clusters were kept at two-per shoot and due to the significant increase in cluster weights, we harvested 2.7 tons per acre, a good half ton per acre increase over previous vintages. The good news was that fruit set was even and fruit was extremely clean at harvest that took place on September 16, about 10 days later than normal.

The Vineyard
Several parcels comprise the now-famous Pisoni Vineyard. The Main block and the Elias block seem to be the source of the best Pinot Noir fruit. Although I suspect the others will catch up quickly. The fruit for this wine comes from perhaps the most coveted parcel on the ranch. It is at the top of the main block and contains the steepest slope. These are some of the oldest vines on the property and perhaps have the best chance to make the best wine. It is planted to a unilateral cordon with vertical shoot positioning. With a unilateral cordon, you get less fruit generally because you have half of the fruiting canes on the plant. The vertical shoot trellis enables the farmer to prune in a way that allows the clusters to develop in a symmetrical line thus giving uniform ripeness across the clusters. The southeast-facing slope gives this vineyard optimal sun exposure and the vineyards are set back out of the fog line that is so prominent in the Santa Lucia Highlands. Wine writer Matt Kramer once explained to me that Pisoni Vineyard was in a nexus, meaning according to him, that it was just outside of the area where you think you should plant Pinot--just slightly warmer thus giving it something distinctive and amazing. He said only the greatest vineyards are planted in the nexus.

Production
My aspirations for this vineyard are somewhat different than many of the producers working with this fruit. The tendency to harvest very ripe and sometimes overripe grapes to produce a highly extracted wine with deep color and intensity and yes, high alcohol has become the norm and has met with both critical and consumer success. While I applaud my colleagues for their successes, I do not subscribe to their theories that this is the best way to make Pinot Noir here in California. Rather I am looking for much more elegance and balance. I choose to harvest with much more modest sugar levels and much higher natural acidity. The belief that my wines will continue to evolve in the bottle for years to come and that this continued evolution will ultimately produce a much more interesting wine is what drives our philosophy of winegrowing.
The fruit was fermented in 1.5 ton open tops and cold soaked for 72 hours at 9° Centigrade. Inoculation was begun using RC212 yeast and nutrients to insure their growth. Fermentation lasted a total of 12 days and the wine was pressed off at 1° Brix directly into 36-month old, extra-tight grain chateaux barrels all from the Allier forest of which 40% were new. This wine remained on its gross lees until the time of bottling, which took place on July 15, 2007. The wine will be released in September 2008.

Technical Data
3.37ph		547 - six packs
6.8 g/l		36 - magnums
13.8 % alcohol		8 - 3 liter bottles
.3 ppm dissolved oxygen		5- 5 liter bottles
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