2005 Pinot Noir, Rio Vista Vineyard Clone 2A
Specifications
- Acidity .58g/100mL
- Appellation Sta. Rita Hills
- Bottling Date 8/24/2006
- Harvest Date September 2015
- ph 3.77
- Region Santa Barbara County
- Type Pinot Noir
- Varietal Pinot Noir Clone 2A
- Vintage 2005
- Winemaker Norm Yost
Vineyard Notes
Locally known as “the eastern gateway to Sta. Rita Hills”, the Rio Vista Vineyard is planted entirely to Pinot Noir. This is Flying Goat’s third vintage from this impeccably farmed vineyard. The vineyard first came into production in 2003, and we are still quite thrilled and honored that owners Graner and Bobby Thorne included Flying Goat in a select group of wineries that
purchase fruit and craft wine from Rio Vista. The vineyard is aptly named, as the steep hillside blocks overlook the Santa Ynez River - that is once the maritime fog that makes Sta. Rita Hills such a stellar place for Pinot Noir lifts! In 2004 we were lucky to add a block of clone 2A to our Rio Vista “spice cabinet”, but liked it so much on its own that the first Flying Goat “clone
designated” wine was produced. And with the beautiful and bountiful 2005 vintage, this block and clone once again was a standout. Pinot Noir clone 2A is one of the Wadenswil selection, a group of Pinot Noir clones imported from Switzerland in the 1950’s. Perhaps like the Swiss themselves, the wine is a bit reserved in barrel and in bottle, taking a bit more time and patience on the part of the winemaker. However, like those precise swiss-made products, once the wine is ready for prime time, it’s superb
Winemaker Notes
The grapes are hand harvested separately from our other Rio Vista grapes and delivered to our “Lompoc Wine Ghetto” location early in the morning, where they are de-stemmed into small open top fermenters. Punched down by hand several times each day to extract spicy notes, color and those elegant skin tannins, the new wine was then gently racked into barrel once dry. Malolactic fermentation occurred in these French oak barrels, 25% of which were new. Spending just about a year in barrel, the wine was gently filtered before bottling. The 2005 Pinot Noir, Clone 2A was then bottled aged and finally released in September of 2007.