2022 Pinot Noir, Walk Slow

Our goal with this wine is always the same.  To show off the Sta. Rita Hills as an appellation rather than show off a specific vineyard.  We like to do that too but that’s a different tasting note!  In order to do that we like to blend a couple different vineyards and a couple different clones of Pinot Noir into one wine.  Ideally, we would also incorporate vineyards from the two distinctive sides of the Sta. Rita Hills, the highway 246 side and the Santa Rosa road side.  Done.  This wine is a blend of Radian vineyard (Santa Rosa Road) clone 667 and Spear vineyard (Hwy 246) clone 115.    Both wines were produced in the same manner…small, 1.5-ton fermenters with 1/3 of the fruit left whole cluster.  Gentle daily punch downs and gently pressed to tank followed by a year in French Oak barrels. For 2022 we have returned to using a small amount of new oak on this wine (about 40%) and think it adds yet another dimension to the complexity of the wine without being heavy handed.