Nose

boasts beautifully fresh, pure, red and black cherry aromas with notes of strawberry and red raspberry.

Palate

Round and juicy on the palate, its silky, delicious cherry and raspberry flavors gain light spice and mineral tones on the bright, lively finish. Perfectly balanced by fine tannins and vibrant acidity

Growing Conditions

The 2012 vintage was one of California’s finest in recent memory. Consistently mild summer weather free of rain and significant heat spikes produced a healthy crop of intensely flavorful fruit. These conditions allowed us to harvest our Annahala Ranch pinot noir grapes between September 25th and 29th with an ideal balance of ripe fruit flavors and vibrant acidity

Winemaking

Our 2012 Annahala Pinot Noir is a blend of three high-quality French Dijon clones of the variety: 114 (65% of the blend), 777 and 115. Each clonal lot was handled gently and cold-soaked for several days prior to fermentation to extract early color and flavor. The must was allowed to warm up naturally over the course of a week before native yeasts from the vineyard spontaneously initiated fermentation. Gentle daily punchdowns during fermentation and extended maceration extracted optimal color, flavor and tannin from the skins. The three wines aged for six months in French Burgundian oak barrels (37% new) tailored to their particular fruit attributes before being blended in April, 2013. The blended wine spent another three months in barrel prior to bottling in August, 2013.

Aging

9 months in French oak, 37% new

Food Pairing

salmon, herb-roasted chicken, pork and lamb dishes