2025 Ponzo Gamay Noir

Vibrant red in color with notes of tart red cherry, cranberry, violet and raspberry. SR (1/26)

Gamay Noir is the quintessential grape of France’s Beaujolais region, but nearly non-existent in California. The Ponzo Gamay Noir block has yielded its first fruit. This planting is poised to double Sonoma County’s total gamay noir production. Marked by high acid and low tannin, this enticing wine is ready for immediate enjoyment or can be cellared for further complexity over the next three years. SR (11/25)

Bob Ponzo has farmed these vines in the Russian River Valley for over 40 years. The vineyard, planted on deep gravelly loam soils, is four and a half miles south of Lytton Springs. Here, the Russian River Valley’s cooler microclimate ripens the grapes later than at Lytton Springs and Geyserville.

Rainfall: 50 inches (above normal)
Bloom: Mid-May
Weather: A long, cool summer and fall led to a later harvest.

Harvest Date: 25 August
Grapes: Average Brix 23.0˚
TA: 8.67 g/L
pH: 3.32
Fermentation: This Gamay was 90% crushed with 10% whole cluster inclusion. The whole clusters were added to the bottom of the tank and then the balance of the fruit crushed on top of the whole clusters. After primary and malolactic fermentation, the wine was kept in a stainless steel tank for one month until it was bottled in December following harvest.
Aging: One month in stainless steel

Hand-harvested grapes; whole-cluster pressed; fermented in stainless steel, followed by a full malolactic on the naturally occurring malolactic bacteria; minimum effective sulfur for this wine (35 ppm at crush, 50 ppm over the course of aging); pad filtered at bottling. In keeping with our philosophy of minimal intervention, this is the sum of our actions.