2018 Corralitos Pinot Noir

Nose of strawberries, currant, savory herbs, minerals and forest floor. Juicy acidity with perfumed floral notes, creamy strawberry fruit, and well-defined tannins. Great length to the finish. EB (9/19)

Ridge made its first pinot noir in 1971. Until now, that has been the only one produced. To explore this grape variety again, we sourced from a vineyard in Corralitos, six miles from the Pacific Ocean. The cool-climate of this coastal mountain site is favorable for moderating ripeness. Traditional methods were used to make this wine. It aged sur lees in burgundy barrels and clarified naturally. This sensuous wine will be at its best over the next five years.

Ridge made its first Pinot Noir in 1971 from an old vineyard above Los Gatos, in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Following that single vintage, our focus outside of Bordeaux varieties and a small amount of chardonnay remained largely on old, field-blended vineyards of zinfandel, carignane, petite sirah and other complementary grapes. In 2013, we undertook a project to identify and map each vine within our Lytton Springs vineyard to learn more about the intent behind the field-blend planting that had occurred over 100 years earlier. Among the 23,800+ vines within the vineyard, DNA testing revealed a single vine of pinot noir. This exciting discovery once again sparked our interest in the pinot noir grape and and eventually led us to the Gali Vineyard at the southern coastal end of the Santa Cruz Mountains, where we sourced the fruit for our first modern vintage of pinot noir.

Rainfall: 19 inches (below normal)
Bloom: Early May
Weather: Winter rains fell below average and summer weather was mild

Harvest Dates: 15 – 22 September
Grapes: Average Brix 24.0˚
TA: 5.70 g/L
pH: 3.69
Fermentation: Grapes are destemmed and fully crushed. Natural primary and natural secondary (malolactic) fermentations.
Barrels: 84% air-dried American oak, 16% French oak (15% new, 19% four years-old, 28% six years-old, and 38% seven years-old).
Aging: Fifteen months in barrel

Hand-harvested grapes; destemmed and fully crushed; fermented on the native yeasts; full malolactic on the naturally occurring bacteria; oak from barrel aging; minimum effective sulfur. In keeping with our philosophy of minimal intervention, this is the sum of our actions.

Average Rating: 90.7

No. of Tasting Notes: 33

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