2002 Pisoni

The Harvest
The harvest of 2002 was characterized by two significant conditions at Pisoni Vineyard. The first had to do with weather and the second water. Initially the weather was defined by a cool, wet spring which resulted in a small high quality crop with intense flavors and uniform richness. However after the cool windy summer, a sudden heat spike in early September brought on some dehydration. The issue with water was that we tried to push the envelope early and often by figuratively as Gary Pisoni likes to say "make the plants scream for water." I think perhaps we pushed to hard and as a result yields were cut in half to less than a ton per acre. Though the resulting fruit was outstanding it did it takes it toll on the vines and hence we have taken a much less aggressive approach with regard to water from here on out. We began our harvest on September 9th and harvested a total of 1.87 tons from our 2 acre parcel at the top of the main block. Fruit was pristine and very little if any was discarded during the triage.

The Vineyard
Several parcels now 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 a 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 south east facing slope gives this vineyard optimal sun exposure and the vineyard are set back out of the fog line that is so prominent in the Santa Lucia Highlands. Matt Kramer once explained to me that Pisoni Vineyard was in a nexus, meaning 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.

The 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 was cold soaked for 72 hours at 9 degrees centigrade. Inoculation was begun using RC212 yeast and nutrients to insure their growth. Fermentation lasted a total of 12 days and was pressed off at .5 degree brix directly to 3 year old Francois Freres barrels all from the Allier forest. In the past we have used new barrels exclusively but given the dehydration we felt it best to use older barrels. These were chateau barrels with a heavy toast treatment. The wine continued to ferment and finally completed malolactic on November 27th 2002. At that time it received an addition of sulphur and a total of 5 barrels were put to bed for the winter. This wine remained on its gross lees until the time of bottling which took place on June 30th 2004. The wine remains in our cellar and will be released in April 2006. We are often asked about drinking windows for our wines and I never really have a good accurate answer. I can tell you that our first Pisoni from the 97 vintage is drinking beautifully at the moment.