Vineyard in Carneros, with some select lots from the RMS Vineyard blended in. A mix of Dijon and Pommard clones, about one-third of the wine was fermented with some whole clusters, the rest was fermented in open top fermenters with gentle punch downs and native fermentations. The wine was aged 12 months in 30% new French oak—Allary, Mercurey and Atelier Centre France barrels, medium and steam bent medium toast—and bottled unfined.

With the South Napa earthquake and ongoing drought making it a unique agricultural landscape, vintners are using words like “quality”, “depth of flavor” and “excellent” to describe expectations for the 2014 vintage in Napa Valley. Despite the curveballs from Mother Nature, the weather was generally perfect at the right times, leading to an abundant and strong crop. Harvest started and ended earlier than usual. The first grapes were picked on July 30th and nearly all harvest activity was completed by the third week of October, a full two weeks ahead of normal harvest schedule for most wineries.

2014 was a fantastic year for Pinot Noir, we had wonderful flavors in the fruit, good acidity and fully ripe stems so we decided to introduce some whole cluster fermentation. Fermentations were native and quick in our lots; we did malolactic in barrel to help integrate the oak during our short elevage The wine was racked only once before bottling. Properly cellared, this wine will grow and develop over the next 10 years.