Dear Friends,
Welcome to the initial release of Hirsch wines. We’d like to share with you, a founding member of the mailing list, the reason we decided to make estate wines. For twenty plus years our sole concentration rested on developing an understanding of this site so appropriate farming practices could be found and used. When we started in 1980, there was only a handful of acres planted in this area. No one realized the potential it held for growing excellent Pinot Noir. Hands on experience taught us which applications were effective from one vintage to the next. The weather here is so varied, as are the soils, that there is little consistency from year to year. (Old timers when asked to forecast the weather would say it will be whether it rains or whether it will be dry.) This, of course, increases the degree of difficulty to find and apply practices that work in the vineyard.
So, for the past 25 years we focused our efforts in the fields. Fortunately, some very fine winemakers have purchased our fruit, and these partnerships greatly helped us to discover better viticultural practices for the production of fine wine. By 2001 we realized that even these relationships had their limits in giving feedback to the farming. Thus, the decision was made to make our own wine as the final step in the viticultural process. The 2002 wines offered here are the first products of this decision.
Attached are some of the thoughts generated over the years as we pursued development of the vineyards. Always the goal has been to grow fruit that expresses most profoundly the site’s characteristics. Additional notes are given on the vintage, and on the blocs and vines that are the wines.
And lastly but not leastly: these are real wines from a dynamic site for growing pinot noir; as such, the wine is for drinking and heartfelt gustation; and we wish you well in your enjoyment of this labor of love and bounty of nature. May this be the beginning of a long running relationship between you the bibbler and this remarkable site and the wines it produces.
Best regards,
David Hirsch