Barreling Down

ByWill Henry

With most of the Pinot Noir fruit in, both our 667 and 777 clones of Pinot Noir from Sierra Madre Vineyard have fermented and are now going into barrel!  Lane is always the first to pick – which means our wines are also usually the first into barrel.  This results in wines that are lower in alcohol and also more age-worthy.

The Pinot Noir spent about 10 days in open-top fermenters.  We performed punch-downs three times a day, to mix in all that yummy fruit character.  The wines all went through a very slow ferment and went into barrel smelling beautiful.

We did bring in an extra ton of Pinot Noir this week from an undisclosed high-end Pinot Noir vineyard from the Santa Rita Hills, which will go into our final blend and add some extra depth and character.  Score!  That will represent about 10% of the final wine.  It is currently fermenting in an open-top bin.

The rest of the Chardonnay also came in this week – 4 tons from Sierra Madre Vineyard, Clone 15.  The Clone 15 took a little longer to ripen, but the juice is gorgeous – and will add a nice spicy note to the Chardonnay.  The Robert Young Clone of Chardonnay is now in barrel, having almost completed fermentation, with malolactic bubbling away.

Stay tuned for news on the Grenache – word is that it might be picked next week.Lane tops up a barrel of 2013 Lumen Pinot Noir.

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