45 cases produced
I sourced the fruit that comprises this wine through Vic McWilliams at Castle, an introduction made by Jerome Aubin -- a leading purveyor of artisan French cooperage in Northern California and a guy who loves his pinot noir.
Half of the fruit (1,000 lbs) is Martini clone (supposedly planted by Louis himself ~40 years ago), harvested on August 31, 2004.
The other 1,000 lbs is a field blend of Dijon clone 115 (75%) and Dijon 114 (25%), the vineyard is at the corner of Bonneau Rd and Route 112; harvested on September 3, 2004.
Year 2 is so much easier than Year 1... I had a big UHaul truck in the vineyard this time -- no more flapping canvas covers and grapes spilling out the back of the pickup (less romantic for the home winemaker, but better for the grapes). I also had labor (Marissa and Chet Zimmer) standing at the ready when the truck pulled up at the winery, and winemaking began immediately. The winemaking crew for the 2nd 1/2 ton was: Kevin Gottesman, John Durham, Nick Eaton, and his friend Graham.
The Martini clone was 60% destemmed/40% whole cluster; cold-soaked for 6 days. The Dijon clones were 80% crushed/20% whole cluster; ~ 4 gallons of distilled water was added. Fermentation was started on September 6 with Ausmerhausen yeast and took two full days to get underway after innoculation. After ten days, the fermentation was complete and Marissa and I pressed and started the malolactic fermentation. Two once-used Seguin Moreau Trancais barrels were used for 11 months of ageing.
We had a great bottling team in action on August 14, 2005: Michael, Xochi, Isabella, and Joseph Birch, Rick Marini, Alan Braverman, Bruce Chu, Kevin Gottesman, Jennie Lee Anderson, Brent and Heather Horowitz, Thomas Sennett, Arthur Ceria, Tim Getz, Libor and Paulina, and Momo.
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