Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir

Description :

The Galante, Silva, Emerald Ridge, Widdoes, Martens, and Jentoft vineyards are all in the heart of Green Valley, and each contributes their unique variation of Green Valley fruit to the complexity of the blend. Morelli Lane is high on the Ridge to the west of the Valley itself and offers a bit of warmer cherry fruit to the mix. Freestone is in the far southwestern corner of the Russian River appellation, and contributes its killer depth and spice to the low notes of the wine.
The fruit is hand sorted prior to destemming into small open top fermenters, where the must is cold-soaked for 5 days in order to gently extract spice and fruit characters, while mitigating harsher tannins. We punch down up to 3 times daily, depending on the stage of the fermentation. Each vineyard, or block, is fermented separately in order to afford optimization of each according to its needs, and to provide us with the most flexibility for blending. Our Pinots generally spend 14 to 20 days on the skins, according to the need of each fermentation. After fermentation, the individual lots are pressed and then racked into French oak barrels to age. We carefully blend our favorite lots in early spring to allow the blend to marry. The final blend rests in barrel until late summer, when we bottle with minimal processing.