2022 Pinot Noir, Pommard Clone, Mitsuko's Vineyard, Carneros

A beautiful crimson red color in the glass. Ripe strawberry, spiced chocolate, forest mushroom and baking spice aromas complement the Bing cherry and allspice on the palate. With fresh acidity and a medium finish, this wine is perfect with mushroom and brie pizza, grilled asparagus or portobello penne pasta casserole.

Handpicked and delivered to the winery in the early morning, the clusters are then sorted and 100% destemmed. Individual blocks are given a relatively warm fermentation carried out immediately by the yeast strain Assmunhausen, originating from the Geisenheim Research Institute in Germany. Once fermentation is complete, the must is pressed and allowed to complete malolactic fermentation in barrel. Aged 9 months in 30% new French oak. The wine is then blended in tank and gently filtered before bottling.

Mitsuko’s Vineyard, located south of Highway 121 in the cooler part of Napa Carneros, has proved to have an abundance of ideal sites for Pinot Noir. Since its purchase as bare land in 1989, we have continually refined our plantings to optimize the wine grape quality potential of each block by determining the best clones to match each soil type. Thus, our Pinot Noir blend continues to evolve towards greater heights every year.

The Pommard Clone UCD-04 is handpicked from Mitsuko's Vineyard on a hillside selection on Graveyard Hill in Carneros. This selection is a relatively new vineyard planting being planted in 2019 and receives less water due to runoff with bright sunshine due to the hillside location.