By Jasmine Hirsch, July 2025
Dear Friends,
The 2023s are dream wines for those that love balanced, graceful Pinot Noirs with classic varietal character and elevated site specificity. These are mid-weight wines with persistence and texture, and the fruit is pure, crystalline and bright. Dare I say, there’s an Old World quality to these wines.
The 2023 growing season was the coolest and longest in decades. A cold, late spring opened to a mild, sunny summer with no heat events. The growing season was long and full of opportunities for conversation and dreaming. Ripening was slow and even, and harvest was the latest since the 1990s.
These conditions produced elegant, perfumed wines with great detail and a pure expression of site. The grapes achieved full phenolic ripeness at lower sugar levels, resulting in wines with lower alcohol, incredible focus and great nuance.
This is our first release of estate Pinot Noirs from 2023. While not a tannic vintage, the 2023 East Ridge bucks that trend with an elegant, silky structure underpinning the classic dark and heady fruit of this vineyard. The West Ridge is ethereal, almost fragile, with an intense mineral character and bright red fruit. The San Andreas is a showstopper, packed with blackberries and sour cherries, with notes of violet and mint. All three wines have elevated early complexity, and a savory quality runs throughout.
The East Ridge and West Ridge can be enjoyed now, with a few hours of air, but the elevated acidity in the 2023 vintage means these wines can go the distance in the cellar. The San Andreas is already showing fabulously, but please give it some air before drinking.
Since I became the winemaker at Hirsch in 2019, no vintage has been the same. It’s a great gift to enter each year with a new set of opportunities and challenges. I’m delighted to bring you a new and never-to-be-repeated expression of our vineyard, from a vintage that is shaping up to be a standout in the modern era.
Warm regards,
Jasmine Hirsch
Winemaker & GM