As long-time lovers of Pinot Noir we often feel the call to produce one of our own. Until now, we didn’t have our own Pinot Noir vineyard, so we purchased grapes. In 2022 it was with great satisfaction that we were able to make wine from our own grapes, from older vines planted on our new Cressida Vineyard.

This Pinot Noir shows all the floral aromatics, red fruits, tangy acidity, and earthy depth that would be expected from cool climate California coastal Pinot Noir.

The steep hillside is planted with the Dijon clone 667. North-facing, it benefits from the cool morning sun rather than the hot afternoon sun. We harvested the riper top of the hill a week earlier than the bottom of the hill, and blended the components back together when we pressed the second lot. For complexity, we vinified in three small tanks: one destemmed, one with 50% whole clusters, and one with 100% whole clusters. We did two manual punch downs per day. We pressed after ~14 days on the skins and aged the wine in neutral puncheons along with two new French oak (Boutes) barrels.

The pH is 3.66, the TA is 6.9 g/l, and the alcohol is 12.0%. 268 cases produced.

The Vineyard

The Cressida Vineyard is planted along the spine of a ridgetop in the upper section of Los Carneros, overlooking the Bay, with the San Francisco skyline clearly visible across the water. It receives the perfect balance of warm sun and cooling bay winds, straight off the Pacific and through the Golden Gate. The soils are shale from an ancient inland sea — the vineyard is the foot of the Mayacamas, with the Cressida Vineyard at the base and Mt. Veeder at the top. Raptors hover overhead, riding the winds thrust up as the Bay breezes meet the Cressida hillside.