Atelier Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2021 750ml

"This supple and textured Pinot Noir has a lovely garnet robe and a nose of plum, strawberry, cherry cola, and hibiscus. On the palate pomegranate and raspberry fruit provide a lively tanginess and dance with more earth-driven notes of tea, gravel, and autumn leaves. Barrel spice and toastiness suggest blueberry cobbler, baking spice, and rose petal on the finish.

Our obsession with nuanced, sustainably farmed Russian River Valley Pinot Noir took us to two sites and three distinct vineyard blocks in the Middle Reach neighborhood of the Russian River Valley. Both sites toe the line along the Laguna Ridge neighborhood, where we find fruit that displays both lush texture and focused structural tannin.

The blend is composed of roughly one third each of Pommard (Clone 4) and Dijon Clones 667 and 777. We selected these clones based upon our experience observing Pommard lending a silky to velvety texture with notes of cinnamon and orange peel as well as a desirable earthiness and full-bodied structure. Clone 667 contributing depth of color from its tight, compact clusters, and the greater ratio of skins to juice, and Clone 777 for its small clusters, small berries, and greater number of seeds per berry which lends aromatic intensity.

Fruit was hand-harvested after daybreak to facilitate selective picking and sorting and conveyed to the winery in half ton macro bins while still cool from the nighttime fog cover. Fruit was mostly destemmed, except some of the 777 clone where we incorporated about 30% whole clusters into the fermentation to capture the essence of this fruit-driven clone. A three-day cold soak at 40 F served to extract the luscious fruit character and stabilize color. Tanks were then warmed to 70 F and each inoculated with one of three different yeast strains, selected specifically to complement the flavor profile observed during the cold soak period.

Just prior to dryness the juice from each lot was separated from its skins and the wines completed primary and secondary fermentation in barrel followed by eleven months of cellaring in French oak. The Pinot Noir lots were removed from barrel in late summer, blended, then lightly fined for brilliance of color and clarity prior to being bottled."