|
 The grapes
for the 1996 Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir came from a three-acre vineyard
planted twenty years ago on a west- facing ridge in the Russian River
Valley. The vines benefit from the cool, coastal climate that penetrates
this portion of Sonoma County, allowing the grapes to mature, and
develop complexity. The grapes were handpicked, hand sorted, destemmed
and crushed into small, open-top fermentors. During fermentation, the
cap of solids was submerged several times per day to extract layers of
color and develop complex favors. The wine was transferred via gravity
flow to new French oak barrels from Claude Gillet, completed malolactic
fermentation and then left to age in our caves until August. Neither
fined nor filtered, this wine is rich with fruit and mineral flavors
reminiscent of a fine French Burgundy.
This
wine reveals smoky, meaty, earthy, black cherry fruit with hints of
oriental spices. Lean and tightly-knit, it exhibits complexity, breeding
and class in a glass. |
