The Harvest

Each year, Mother Nature presents a different set of challenges for Sleepy Hollow Vineyard. Our parcel at the top of the hill in set A does not get much sunlight and lives much of the time in the fog and wind. To take advantage of every bit of the reduced sunlight, we separate foliage from the fruiting zone to get more direct light to the berries and to thicken grape skins. These vines are susceptible to botrytis and mildew and more recently mealy bug infestation. Mother Nature’s constant task on these vines is a supreme challenge to the concept of winegrowing and often is the most satisfying work that I do.

The 2000 vintage exhibited a much more common weather pattern with harvest beginning on September 17 th after a 10 day warming trend. We did see about a 30% increase in dehydration of the berries as a result of the warmer weather. And there was approximately 15% gray rot from the moisture given off by the dense morning fog. Yields were reduced by triage to 30 hectoliters per hectare and sugars soaked up to 14.5% potential alcohol as a result of the dehydration. This was a very good vintage but not a great one. Many critics have given the vintage an overall higher review than 1999. I however am inclined to disagree.

The Vineyard

Sleepy Hollow Vineyard is situated along the Santa Lucia bench in the northwestern section of the Salinas Valley of Monterey County. Planted to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in 1974, it was independently owned until 1990 when Robert Talbott purchased the property for his Talbott Winery.

The vineyard is broken up into two major parcels: A and B. Within Parcel A, we farm 6 acres in Set 1 South, which is located at the top of the gently sloping vineyard. We select blocks located high on the slopes to ensure good drainage and intensity of flavors in the grapes. Soils consist of sandy loam and Monterey shale making for excellent drainage. The vines are on their own roots and are a combination of Martini and an upright clone the French call "Pinot Droid." Spacing is set at 5x6 with a split canopy trellis designed to acclimate the clusters to the sun early in the year, thus avoiding sunburn later in the summer. This trellis design also helps to ripen the fruit more evenly. Pruning is conducted in the winter with only 2 spurs per cordon kept. And in the spring, we prune to 2 clusters per cane.

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 45 °F) 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 new François Frères 100% French oak barrels for 17 months and bottled unfined and unfiltered. The bottled 808 cases of wine were further aged 12 months before release to allow complete integration and development.