2014 Lucia, Susan’s Hill Syrah
Santa Lucia Highlands, California
With generations of farming history in Monterey County, and a commitment to making exceptional wines, The Pisoni
Family hand-crafts the Lucia wines from the Pisoni, Garys’ and Soberanes Vineyards of the Santa Lucia Highlands.
THE VINEYARD
Susan’s Hill, named for Gary’s sister Susan, crowns one of the highest ridges of Pisoni Vineyards. Its peak is exposed to the elements and buffeted by heavy winds. The coarse, rocky soils ensure that the vines are extremely stressed, resulting in wines that are dark in color and very intense
WINEMAKING
The Pisoni Family is committed to raising and hand-crafting exceptional wines. The limited-production Lucia wines are created using classic, gentle and thoughtful winemaking techniques. Hand-picked and sorted grapes are fermented on native yeasts and aged in carefully selected French oak barrels. Our state-of-the-art winemaking facility uses gravity flow as part of a custom design conceived to merge the estate vineyards and winery. This affords us complete control of the farming and winemaking process, ensuring consistently superior quality.
THE VINTAGE
The 2014 growing season in Monterey County was one of the driest on record. This was the third consecutive drought year, and continued lack of rainfall led to early season stress on the vines. The result was smaller canopies but very phenologically developed fruit. We made multiple, careful pruning passes through each of the vineyards, dropping large amounts of fruit to balance these smaller canopies with the crop levels. Winter and Spring were mild, which led to an early bud break. A cool summer slowed the growing season, and harvest began in the first weeks of September, much earlier than is typical for the AVA. The 2014 wines possess great elegance, vibrance, and intensity.