2004 Pinot Grigio
I made Pinot Grigio for the first time in 1991, and have made one in nearly every year since, but it wasn't until 2004 that I finally made what I had in mind back in '91. We picked a good site when we decided to plant the variety at Witters in 2000, but it was the '04 vintage that gaves us the grapes with which to make the bright, crisp, low (for California) alcohol white that best typifies Pinot Grigio. This is the one to drink with grilled squid, steamed mussels, Caesar salad, fettucine al'freddo, you decide! FRUIT SOURCE: Witters Vineyard, El Dorado County. This site is at 3400 feet elevation, above Camino (East of Placerville), in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Bob Witters used to grow Bartlett pears, and the elevation of his orchard made for cool and slow ripening conditions, yielding fruit with plenty of perfume. It sounded to us like a perfect spot for Gamay and Pinot Gris, and we managed to persuade Bob that it would be a good idea for him to plant them for us. The soil at Witters is volcanic clay-loam, there's a moderate slope downward to the North, and the nights are generally quite cool, just the kind of place we were looking for. It's also, perhaps, the highest vineyard in California. WINEMAKING NOTES: After a torrid beginning, in March, the '04 growing season cooled down and stayed mild into mid-August, much to my delight. We were able to harvest perfectly ripe Pinot Gris at a mere 21.7 degrees Brix, with tremendous acidity. Roughly 1/3 of the fruit was whole-cluster pressed into 20 year old French puncheons, the rest into stainless steel. The wine fermented to only 12.7 percent alcohol, probably encouraging the spontaneous malolactic fermentation that occurred in both lots. The lots were combined in January, and the wine was bottled on Valentine's Day. WINEMAKER'S TASTING NOTES: The wine shows the slightest orange tint, some trace remnant of ripe skins (Pinot Gris is purple when ripe). The nose combines Crenshaw melon, lemon zest, cut hay, and a whiff of fresh mint. In the mouth it's medium-bodied, with strong framing acidity, giving shape and length to the flavors. Finish is long and clean. It has structure for 3-5 years development in bottle (to good advantage). PRODUCTION: 385 cases. SUGGESTED RETAIL: $16.00 RELEASE DATE: April 2005 Produced and Bottled by Intuition and Blind Luck |
