Dear Friends,
Close your eyes: It is a dark moonless night. Suddenly the quiet is shattered by the roar and whistle of a long train; then the night is opened by the shaft of light coming from the locomotive’s lamp. This is the kind of impact made on the senses by our 2004 estate pinot noir, a wine of profound depth, great focus and clarity, an enchanting radiance, and explosive aromatics. A wine as long in its expression as that freight train winding through the dark countryside.
What are the conditions that make such a wine possible? 2004 was by no means an easy year for farming, so perhaps it was the inclusion of a broad selection of clones and blocs from our highly complex site (see the blend table below); maybe it was the arrival on the scene of our winemaker Mark Doherty who spent serious time in the vineyards, imagining the finished wine, prior to overseeing the harvest and crush. Or it could have been the advances in fruit handling and processing (bloc by bloc with no blending until bottling) that resulted in faster, gentler and more thorough passage from vine to fermenter. Might it have been the new hand bottling machine and holding tanks that enabled the wine to be racked safely and cleanly without pumping or filtering prior to bottling. Or was it the blessed arrival on the ranch of Allondra, born on Jan. 4 to our talented vineyard manager, Everardo, and his wife Martha. Who can truly say what combination of the innumerable variables of site and climate compose such a vintage. All we know is that each year is unique, each has its own spirit, and that when the components of climate and soil and culture come together in their mysterious way, the wine can be indeed a remarkable product. Our strategy is to follow the pattern drawn by nature on our site and to intervene as minimally as possible: In the role of cup bearer, so to speak.
Enjoy,
David & Marie Hirsch