 |
|
|
|
Note from Milla about RSM Pinot Noir
|
|
|
Milla with the dogs in the vineyard
|
|
In the Pinot Noir Cellar Club package, along with three other wines, we included a bottle of Handley Cellars’ 2009 Pinot Noir, RSM Vineyard, Anderson Valley. I thought you’d enjoy a little more information about the RSM Vineyard and the wine.
The RSM Vineyard is named after my husband Rex Scott McClellan, who cleared the land and helped plant and tend the vineyard. RSM has two blocks. Block A was planted in 1999 and Block B, in 2001. These blocks are only a few hundred yards apart but the soils and exposure are very different. Grapes from the two vineyard blocks have very different flavors and in some years ripen weeks apart.
The majority of the fruit for this wine came from Block B, the lower section of the vineyard. It has red soil, and appears to be clay loam based, and contributes a mineral component to the blend. The upper, smaller block is very steep with shallow loam on top of what I think is a fractured rocky soil. These rows have great drainage, for both air and water, which produces concentrated flavors and soft balanced tannins, along with good acidity and texture, without being overly extracted.
When you plant a vineyard you never know what the quality of the grapes will be. Hillside vineyards face particular challenges, with thinner soils and limited water available during growing season. The vines tend to produce smaller crops. The RSM Vineyard has been producing wonderful grapes, from the first vintage, but the quantity has been very low. My goal has been to get more than 1 ton an acre, and in the past two vintages we’ve been close. In 2011 we exceeded that goal.
I’m very pleased with this wine. It tastes like a hillside vineyard without the extraction or the overripe qualities that sometimes come from hillside grapes. Instead, there is an amazing amount of concentration. Although the grapes averaged 24.1 Brix at harvest, the alcohol is only 14.2%. I think you will appreciate the unusual combination in this wine, of richness while not being heavy.
<< Previous Page
|
|
|
|
