Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir, 2021

This cuvée is comprised of organically farmed Pinot Noir sourced from Toyon Vineyard and Meadowridge Vineyard. While Toyon has southerly exposure, Meadowridge faces northeast. Both are located on the ocean-exposed foothills of the western Santa Cruz Mountains, at about 500 ft elevation on the Purisima Formation. The cool ocean influence permits a longer growing season than much of California, and we can achieve phenolic maturity while retaining natural acidity. This cuvée was fermented in many small lots as single vineyards and later blended - we simply place the fruit in small open top fermenters as 100% whole clusters. We keep the fermenters cold for 3-5 days, before allowing them to warm up to room temperature and ferment spontaneously on native yeast. The ferments are treated as individuals and each is tasted daily to assess the maceration and extraction. We pressed after 11-18 days on skins to neutral French oak barriques. Elevage is ~9 months on lees. This wine is unfined and unfiltered. Please expect some solids in the bottle especially with age. ~546 cases produced