2004 La Famiglia  Pinot Grigio

Proprietor's Notes
"I'm incredibly proud of this 2004 Pinot Grigio," said Proprietor Steve Cousins. "The back bone of this blend is fruit from ultra premium vineyards in Monterey and Santa Barbara counties including vineyards in Arroyo Seco, the Santa Lucia Highlands and Santa Maria. Our 2004 Pinot Grigio is Italian in style with abundant California ripe fruit expression. It has classic Italian mineral character, which I attribute to the river rock and gravel soils of the vineyards around Arroyo Seco in Monterey County." This vintage of Pinot Grigio has excellent weight and complexity on the palate, with generous fruit character - apple, citrus and lemon zest - woven with mineral, floral and spice nuances. The crisp, dry flavors culminate with a burst of tangerine in the finish and the Tocai Friulano and Chardonnay in the blend bring body and elegance to the texture. This wine begs to be paired with oysters or sushi.

Varietal blend: 87% Pinot Grigio, 10% Chardonnay, 3% Tocai Friulano

Vintage
What a great year for Pinot Grigio! Early spring weather encouraged full canopy development and early bloom. The unusually long 2004 growing season retained outstanding acidity in our Pinot Grigio grapes, even as warm days developed ripe, lush flavors. While yield was down, significantly in some of the Pinot Grigio vineyards, the resultant concentration of flavors is fantastic!

Grapes: Average sugar of 23.9º Brix with 0.68% initial acid and 3.33pH

Vineyard
Monterey County, midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, lies along the long, fertile Salinas Valley that begins at Monterey Bay and runs southward toward San Luis Obispo. Salinas Valley has an enormous "upside down" underground river - one of only a few major rivers in the world that flows south to north. The rich valley floor is planted to row crops, while grape growers covet the less fertile, well-draining benchlands and hillsides. Our favorite Pinot Grigio vineyards lie on the alluvial fan at the mouth of the Arroyo Seco -- a seasonal river canyon that empties into the valley -- and in the Santa Lucia Highlands. These vineyards in the western hills have gravelly, sandy soils and marine-influenced climates that foster lush, complex flavors and crisp balance in Pinot Grigio grapes.

Grape Sourcing: 75%% Monterey County (including Arroyo Seco and Santa Lucia Highlands AVAs)
10% Santa Barbara and Santa Maria AVAs
The rest of the blend if from selected vineyards in Carneros, Paicines, Mendocino, and other premium AVAs

Fermentation & Aging
We harvested the grapes when they were still cold from the night fog. It is imperative to gently press Pinot Grigio grapes immediately after harvesting, so minimal color is extracted from the coppery-colored skins. We cold-fermented the juice slowly at 55° for 20-25 days, until all the sugar was converted into alcohol by the yeast. Then we aged the wine on the yeast, with weekly stirrings, to integrate flavors and increase the silky, creamy texture. To retain the wine's fresh, crisp character, we did not have the wine undergo malolactic fermentation or barrel aging.

Wine analysis: 0.55% total acid, 3.28 pH, 0.035% residual sugar (dry), 13.0% alcohol, by volume