Passion Pinot Noir 2014

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.

Passion is a supple, new world Pinot that will handle gentle spicing so try a salad of golden beets with hazelnuts, grilled ricotta, frise 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!

Tasting Notes

Fragrant cherry and rose petal nose with good intensity, a very pleasing experience. Bright in the mouth with an elegant hint of strawberry and red cherry flavors giving way to elements of fine-grained tannin and mineral culminating in a sensational finish. Keep this wine for a few years and then only share it with a very close friend.

Production Notes

This wine was not blended - as the vineyard gives it to us we give it to you. The grapes are cold-soaked for pre-ferment maceration, fermented in small, temperature-controlled, open-top tanks with punch downs occurring as needed during fermentation followed by 30 to 45 days of post-ferment maceration. The free-run wine is then consigned to French oak Burgundy barrels for approximately 11 months.

Winemaker Notes

Passion was hand-crafted with grapes from the Vine Hill Road vineyards, approximately half from the north block and half from the south block. Here the clay and gravel soil is covered with 12 to 18 inches of Gold Ridge Sandy Loam from which this vineyard produces rich elegant Pinot Noir with soft mouth feel and a long delicate finish. We do not blend Passion with any other clones preferring it to be 100% Pommard, aged in medium toast French oak barrels for eleven months.

Cooperage Notes

100% French Oak: 40% New; 35% One Use; 25% Neutral