The "Lot 1" is a blend of 66% Dijon clone 667 and 34% Dijon clone 115. Aged 11 months in French oak. 200 bottles were produced.
The "Lot 2" is 100% Dijon 115, 50% whole-cluster fermentation, Aged 11 months in 100% new Francois Freres oak (Allier Medium-toast). 160 bottles were produced.
Thomas Layton (aka Mas) and I sourced the fruit through Eric Neal (who was the first manager of Mas' vineyard in Green Valley). Tykanera Vineyard was producing approximately four tons/acre in 2003; we purchased 1,000 lbs of two pinot noir clones: Dijon 667 and Dijon 115.
The first 1/2 ton was picked the morning of September 26, 2003 -- we drove it back over the Golden Gate Bridge in a borrowed Ford F-150 that barely held the container. We brought the other 1,000 lbs into the winery on October 7 -- it was interesting to watch the vineyard get picked through row-by-row (because the sugar/ripeness levels in the grapes varied row-by-row due primarily to sun exposure). Our initial juice panel on the 667 was promising: 24.8 brix, 6.8 tartaric, 3.43 ph, .72 TA
We crushed 100% of the 667 (the first 1,000 lbs). We added 8% distilled water to the first 1,000 lb batch (5.3 of 66 gallons). We also added 225 grams of tartaric acid (1g/L) based on (500Lx75%fullx60%yield=225L). After 5 days of cold soak (regulated with dry ice), we induced fermentation with 50 grams of Ausmerhausen yeast that had been "started" in the living room by a sunny window -- then innoculated the fermentation tank with the yeast and wrapped the tank with an electric blanket and sleeping bag. After a day, we put a space heater next to the tank too!
The second half, 1,000 lbs of Dijon 115, came into the winery on Sunday October 5 and we decided to go with a 50% whole cluster fermentation plan for it -- thinking that whatever "green" or "woody" tastes that might result would be diluted by the 667... As it turns out, MasRas Lot 2 is 100% Dijon 115 (an accident, in the end) and the coupling of the whole cluster fermentation with the new French oak that was used produced a very sturdy pinot.
The primary fermentations went pretty smoothly, beginners' luck, and we pressed the first batch on Saturday October 11; malolactic fermentations began about a day after each pressing. We were overly gentle with the press, not understanding that commercial presses exert far more force on the fruit than our hand-winch ever could. We used two Francois Freres barrels, one was a new Allier (medium-toast), and the other was a once-used Troncais (medium-toast).
Our advisors were Kevin Harvey and Ed Kurtzman -- both of whom we called in a panic-state several times during winemaking!
The MasRas labels were designed by Zack Onisko.
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