Passion Pinot Noir 2013

With another year of experience making Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley we have produced a wine showing a clarity of its vineyard site with distinct, age-worthy flavors.

Update Fall 2017

We tasted this Pinot and instantly withdrew it from the normal tasting room releases. This is one of those once-every-so-many-years wines that is worthy of a special place in the cellar and requires a special occasion to savor, (perhaps when you are home alone).

Fair warning, if you like a light, delicate, flavorful Pinot Noir then you will love the 2013 Passion. If you like bigger, more meaty Pinot then focus on our Rapture Pinot.

Passion has a light color and an inviting *“rose petal”* nose which may lead you to think this is just another *“strawberry and cream”* Pinot.

Think again! . . . this is a wow of a Russian River Valley Pinot but showing poise and grace instead of raw power.

On first taste it surrounds your entire palate with its subtle brown spice and lush accents of red raspberry, cola, pine cone and dried thyme scents. This just goes on invading your full sensory perception ending up leaving you ready for another taste.

Finally here is a supple, new world Pinot that will handle gentle spicing so try a salad of golden beets with hazelnuts, grilled ricotta, frisee lettuce, blueberries and orange or perhaps a fregola sarda *(Sardinian pasta)* with roasted peppers, olives and sweet onions.

Passion is still sufficiently versatile to work with earthy-flavored foods as well. Think about chicken thighs stewed in a tomato sauce atop a mound of creamy mashed potato with truffle salt or how about the rich, savory flavors of a cassoulet made with duck confit or even Peking duck with all the trimmings. Yum!

The 2013 vintage exceeded our expectations on both quality and quantity. Rare as it was to have another fruitful year right after the record breaking 2012 crush, the quality across all varietals was also excellent.

The overall vigor of this growing season was high which required more canopy management and more vigilance with regard to pest abatement. The harvest began and finished early, the timing of crop maturity being dictated entirely by our canopy management practices and manually reduced crop load. By addressing canopy management and green fruit harvesting early we were able to significantly reduce pest pressure and encourage early fruit ripening. The final wine quality in tank was excellent across the board for all varietals and appellations.

French Oak 100%; 35% new; 35% one-use; 30% neutral
This Pommard vineyard is south facing. The clay and gravel base is covered with Gold Ridge Sandy Loam, a soil that was formed by the decomposition of an ancient sandstone seabed. Formed from weakly consolidated sandstone with layers of ancient volcanic ash, all once ocean floor, finally exposed and weathered, Gold Ridge soil is not particularly fertile and does not hold water well. This creates an environment that forces the vines to struggle and growing under this stress they produce the best fruit possible.
Color Red
Vintage 2013
Style Red Burgundy
Appellation Russian River Valley
Varietal Pinot Noir
Date Bottled 18th Aug 2014
Drinkable 2015 - 2020
Alcohol 14.50%
Bottle Size 750ml