2010 Pinot Noir Rosé
Vintage
Vintage 2010 brings to mind some catchy phrases. The year of the birds – Hitchcock style, let ‘em hang and our favorite, and slogan for the vintage – “Hang ‘10”! Yes, harvest was later than normal. An exceptionally cold, wet spring was followed by what many seasoned producers recall as one of the shortest summers. However, 2010 was not the worst of years. The ‘attack of our feathered friends,’ whose almost unprecedented assault on valley fruit, also indicated nature’s signal that the fruit was ripe and grapes good indeed. Winemaker, Adam Campbell, comments in response to vintage nervousness, “you know, we have been doing this for almost 40 years, and it’s not the first time we’ve had slow ripening. We’re optimistic about it and we know exactly what to do.” Even science agrees. Climatologists show similarities to the great 2008 vintage; reporting lower yields, small berries and full flavor development at lower brix levels – all signs pointing to high quality wines with lower alcohols.
Vineyard
The fruit for this all Pinot Noir Rosé is hand-harvested from Elk Cove’s estate vineyards. For the Rosé, we choose both young and old vines from higher elevation vineyards on their own rootstock. These give us the full flavor development and aromatics needed for a fresh white wine, within a framework of lower alcohol.
Winemaking
Pinot Noir fruit for our Rosé is hand-harvested very ripe and gently whole bunch pressed with limited skin crushing, which makes virtually a “white Pinot Noir”. The wine is fermented cool in stainless steel tanks. Then carefully selected lots of fermented red Pinot Noir juice is blended back for color and texture. Our Pinot Noir Rosé is finished completely dry.
Viticultural & Enological Data
- Vine Age 17 years
- Yield 2.5 tons/acre
- Harvest Sugars 21.5 Brix
- pH 3.2
- Vatting Gently whole-cluster pressed, cold fermented in small stainless steel tanks. Select lots of pinot noir juice added back for color.
- Cases Produced 1,250
