2007 J Pinot Noir, Nonny's Vineyard
The vineyards
Nonny’s Pinot Noir is a 70-acre vineyard planted in Yolo soil, a reddish loam with gravel striations. Clones are a combination of Dijon 115, 667, 777. The vines are trained on a vertical trellis system with Cordon andCane pruning, limiting the vine’s yield and opening the vine’s canopy toexpose the grapes to filtered light to maximize flavor development.
Processing
Selected grape clusters were hand-harvested at night to ensure the best conditions. While still cool, the fruit was hand-sorted, gently destemmed and gravity fed into our open-top fermenters for wholeberry fermentation. Daily tastings determine the precise balance of fruit and tannins before the wine goes to barrel. Our minimalist approach to making Pinot Noirs is designed to yield a wine that reflects, in both aroma and flavor, the location in which it was grown.
Aging
When ready, the juice flowed freely into 100% French oak barrels, 30% new, where slow, gentle malolactic fermentation took place. The long secondary fermentation on light lees allowed for natural bâtonnage developing a velvety, full mid-palate. After aging for 12 months in Burgundian barrels, each lot was evaluated for balance and complexity. Select barrels were blended and returned to barrel for an additional three months, allowing complete resolution of allcomponents before bottling.
Tasting Notes
Nonny’s Pinot Noir is a sophisticated wine with excellent structure and texture. Its soft earthy aromas of smoke, cinnamon and dark chocolate marry with fresh strawberry, raspberry and toasted almond. The wine has a smooth fruit entry with rich flavors of sweet cherry and plum. The voluptuous mouth feel is balanced with a nice acidity and firm oak tannins. The long finish carries notes of toasted hazelnut and cranberry completing this wine and beckoning another sip.
Winemaker:George Bursick
Appellation:Russian River Valley
Harvest Date:October 4, 2007
Wine Alcohol:14.4% by volume
Wine Acid:5.5 grams per liter
Wine pH:3.80
Bottling Date:February 2009