2003 Pinot Noir, Dierberg Vineyard Magnum (1.5 L)
Specifications
- Appellation Santa Maria Valley
- Bottling Date September 2004
- Harvest Date September 2003
- Region Santa Barbara County
- Varietal Pinot Noir
- Vintage 2003
- Winemaker Norm Yost
Production Notes
282 cases produced.
Vineyard Notes
The 9 year old 161-acre Dierberg vineyard sits on undulating hills about 4 miles east of Highway 101 in the middle of the Santa Maria Valley. The vines are planted to catch the prevailing winds from the Pacific Ocean, which is a scant 14 miles west of the vineyard. The vineyard is planted with the new Dijon clones as well as a few older, traditional clones. Once again, we chose Clone 115, a Dijon clone, for backbone and body. And then, while walking through the vineyard tasting grapes, we decided to take a little bit of a different turn with the 03 vintage, and contracted for some Clone 13 Pinot Noir, which is commonly known in the industry as “Martini”.
Winemaker Notes
The grapes were destemmed to small open top bins for individual fermentation and punched down by hand 2-3 times daily. Once fermentation had completed, in about 10 days, the skins were lightly pressed and the free run wine was gravity fed to barrels for 12 months aging on the lees. The aging wine was occassionally stirred to add creaminess to the final texture. Blending trials were done in the late summer, and the wine was lightly filtered and bottled in August, 2004