Fort Ross 2002 Pinot Noir

Fort Ross Vineyard is primarily a Pinot Noir vineyard in an area that many believe will ultimately shine as brightly as Burgundy. Our Pinot Noir plantings include field selections of Calera, Pommard, and Swan as well as Dijon clones 115 and 777. The vines are planted on a variety of rootstocks, depending on soil types, grafting requirements and rootstock-scion compatibility. During harvest, grapes are handpicked in the cool early morning hours, hand sorted, destemmed, cold soaked for several days and fermented in simple open top fermenters and manually punched down. Shortly after pressing, the wines are aged in 100% French oak barrels, both new and used. Throughout destemming, fermentation and barreling, clones are kept separate to maintain their distinct flavor profiles and structural components. Blending trials determine how to combine the different clones into distinct wines that best reflect their component flavor profiles. The objective is always to create wines that reveal their fruit with structure, balance and finesse. The wine is unfined and with rare exceptions unfiltered

The 2002 Pinot Noir reflects the vintage, which is considered to be the finest ever for California Pinot Noir. It tempts with a bouquet of roses, mesmerizes with its gorgeous deep purple color and fills your palate with ripe red and black berries enlivened by East Indian spices. This well structured wine with supple tannins gains depth and complexity through the lingering finish.

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