The East Ridge Estate Pinot Noir is a mountain wine: muscular, dark-fruited and structured, it’s a regal and powerful Pinot Noir that is among our most cellar-worthy.
Sloping steeply into a deep, interior valley, the East Ridge is somewhat sheltered from the full onslaught of the coastal influences, making this a relatively warmer site. These vines are some of the oldest at Hirsch and are stressed by phylloxera and shallow mountain soils. Yields are extremely low in the oldest sections.
Around eighty percent of the old vines on the East Ridge are stricken with phylloxera, requiring intensive and meticulous vine-by-vine farming. In 2019 we began a staged replanting process, an effort that will continue for some years to come.
