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2007 Vineyard Montage Pinot Noir
Rich garnet in hue, this is classic Central Coast Pinot Noir! Cola, black cherry dried rose petal and bramble all come through at first whiff, with classic varietal flavors of cranberry, black cherry, and mushroom with earthy undertones. The finish is dry with tart red cherry pie filling flavors.
The Vineyards
Our Montage Pinot Noir is a composition of multiple vineyard lots; two vineyards that we can name: Paraiso Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands, and Chualar Canyon Vineyard in the northern Salinas Valley make up the smallest part of this blend. The larger pieces of this composition were sourced from famous name vineyards in Arroyo Grande and Santa Barbara and cannot be revealed. A mystery on paper to be sure, but not a mystery in the glass; as the various elements come together as classically styled Pinot with a lovely varietal nose and light well balance fruit.
2007 Vigne Monte Nero Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands
Elegant and well-balanced our 2007 Vigna Monte Nero Pinot Noir has a rich, smoky, plum and potpourri nose. On the palate the wine shows mixed dark stone fruit flavors of cherry and black plum with black currant nuances. The finish is has a mineral undertones and racy acidity.
The Vineyard
The Santa Lucia Highlands sit on a plateau on the eastern facing slopes of the eponymous mountain range. The appellation has gained a stellar reputation as an ideal growing area for Pinot Noir. The Vigna Mont Nero vineyard is planted in stony granite based soils and chilled by cool maritime fog. This Pinot Noir was grown on 60% clone 777 and 40% clone 115.
2007 Chualar Canyon Pinot Noir, Salinas Valley, Monterey
Our 2007 Chualar Canyon Pinot Noir has a strawberry jam nose with herbaceous notes of sage. On the palate butter crust cherry pie is layered with black cherry cola and pomegranate flavors. The fruit is well integrated with characters of forest floor, rhubarb and toasty oak. The soft yet supple tannins can be attributed to our very gentle handling of this fragile variety and the use of only very fine grain oak in our barrel-aging regime. We used 30% new barrels, 95% French oak and 5% Hungarian.
The Vineyard
The Chualar Canyon Vineyard is the most northerly vineyard in the Salinas Valley, located only 10 miles from Monterey Bay and directly in line with its marine breezes. Consequently, it’s a very cool growing site. The block from which we pick our grapes is planted entirely to Dijon selections of Pinot Noir, and our ‘rows’ contain clones 667 and 777. Trellising is vertical (Vertical Shoot Positioning) to increase sun exposure in this unique site.
