2006 Estate Vineyard Old Vine Pinot Noir

2006 Estate Vineyard, Old Vine: The 26 acre vineyard is beginning to show the strength and diversity that we have been expecting from it. This is why we have begun to split it into different bottlings based upon specific characteristics. From 5 different blocks with vines of  17, 20, 21 and 23 years of age we created a wine that displays the elegant characteristics of Pinot Noir and Ribbon Ridge. Since we landed here 7 years ago we have been learning more and more about this site and as the vineyard has aged and gotten healthy we have seen the range of characteristics of Pinot it produces greatly expand. Tasting the different blocks out of the Estate Vineyard is a fascinating lesson in why Pinot Noir is such an incredible grape. From one site we span the full range from lightly pigmented yet richly textured wines to preternaturally dark and intensely structured wines. Over the course of 170 or so barrels it is quite the experience.

The Estate Old Vine bottling is the opposite or perhaps, more accurately, the inverse of the Estate bottling. The Old Vine has a red core of sweet fruit, spice and an exceptional degree of minerality and salt to it with an outer casing of darker fruit notes and some refined toastiness from the barrels. Of the four wines we bottle from our Estate Vineyard this is the most suave and cool. The fruit is quite refined, the palate is silky and mid-bodied and the minerality is palpable. This wine will age gracefully and be a seamless and extraordinary Pinot Noir for many, many years. Don’t mistake these notes to read that this wine lacks concentration. There is more than ample substance to this Pinot, it is just contained in an extremely well-defined package. 1,010 cases bottled.