2015 Pisoni Estate Pinot Noir

2015 Pisoni Estate Pinot Noir bottle

FARMERS. WINEMAKERS. Members of the Pisoni Family work together, committed to growing exceptional grapes and crafting compelling wines from their vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands.

First planted by Gary Pisoni in 1982, and now managed by his son Mark, Pisoni Vineyards consists of small vineyard blocks arranged on and around the ridges of the mountainous landscape. Ranging in size from one-half to 17 acres, the vineyard blocks perch at an altitude of 1,300 feet in the granite-laced mountains of the coastal Santa Lucia Range.

The Pisoni Family produces essentially one wine per year under this label. The wine is a blend from several blocks on the Estate and is hand-crafted to best represent the vineyard and spirit of the Pisoni Family. Jeff Pisoni, Gary’s other son, is the winemaker for the Pisoni Estate wines. Total production ranges from 500 to 800 cases annually, depending on yield.

VINEYARD

  • One of the highest-elevation vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands: 1,300 feet
  • Decomposed granite soil. High amounts of schist and quartz
  • Heavy fog influence
  • 36 planted acres with 30 individually farmed blocks or sub-blocks
  • 100% sustainable farming
  • Hand-farmed & hand-harvested

VINTAGE

  • Unseasonably warm winter led to the earliest bud break on record
  • May was cold, overcast and windy, resulting in poor flowering set
  • Shatter was rampant
  • Summer favorable with mild temperatures and normal levels of fog
  • Crop levels down 70% in some blocks
  • Harvest began the last week in August and spanned the month of September
  • Harvest was at lower Brix levels than normal due to early phenolic maturity

WINERY

  • Hand sorting
  • 100% native-yeast fermentation
  • 30% whole-cluster fermentation
  • Selective French oak barrels: 67% new oak; 11 months aging in barrel
  • Minimal intervention is practiced
  • Only natural settling of the wine is utilized: No use of fining or filtration

Notes

Produced from tiny yields, the 2015 Pisoni Estate Pinot Noir possesses an incredible combination of richness and elegance. Vibrant aromatics rise from the glass and are decipherable long before you bring your nose to the wine. Fresh raspberry, violets, wild strawberry, baking spice and forest floor fuse to develop remarkably complex expression. On the palate, the presence of acid and weight derived from the vineyard’s cold evenings and fog-blanketed mornings offers voluminous reach, producing rich texture and fine-grained tannins that lead into a beautiful, long-lingering finish. This wine will age gracefully for over a decade. Decant and enjoy it over a long meal—or lay it down to rest in the cellar.

  • Mark & Gary Pisoni, Vineyard Managers
  • Jeff Pisoni, Winemaker
  • Alcohol: 14.1%
  • Cases Produced: 589 (9L case equiv.)
  • Bottled Date: August 24th, 2016
  • Release Date: September 2017

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