Swanson Vineyards
2010 Pinot Grigio
Pinot Grigio
California: Napa Valley
Mission Briefing
Smooth as Silk
Silky, elegant, flavorful, and very delicious, today’s brilliant 2010 Swanson Vineyards Pinot Grigio receives our highest recommendation.
Bright but balanced, this wine is a perfect summer sipper that our whole tasting panel loved. Even those tasting Agents that profess to have little love for PG.
We were so impressed by today’s wine, which, in our opinion, delivers something so much more than does a typical California Pinot Grigio. This wine is so smooth and so tasty that we felt that we were drinking a far more expensive white wine.
Enjoy this lovely wine all on its own, or with a wide variety of spring and summer food pairings.
Tasting Profile
| Look: | Pale golden hues with perfect clarity and pretty glinting edges that catch the light. |
|---|---|
| Smell: | Ripe and sweet with peach and nectarine skins, citrus, pink grapefruit, tangerine blossom, macadamia nut and lemon verbena. |
| Taste: | Tart, sweet and wonderfully balanced. Pronounced, silky flavors of apricot, pear, peach, zingy pineapple, almond, lemongrass and lychee. |
| Finish: | Long and silky with extended apricot and peach. As flavors dwindle, the coating on the palate diminishes first at the mid-palate and then clings on and on at the edges of the palate. |
| Pairing: | Enjoy this silky delicious wine with a spinach salad with strawberry and walnut. |
What the Winery Says
- VINTAGE
- In Oakville, normal winter and spring precipitation levels coupled with cool early season temperatures set the tone for nicely paced shoot growth and fruit development. June was warm, but July and August were cool. September began with just enough heat to ensure optimum ripeness. We hand-harvested quickly in the cold early morning, pleased to note fully developed avors in the fruit, which was cold-pressed immediately. e nal blend includes 10% Chardonnay from our Oakville Estate. Oakville Pinot Grigio fruit provided ample body and minerality; the Oak Knoll portion gave us notes of litchi, peach and Meyer lemon, while the Santa Barbara component contributed crisp acidity, as well as guava and pear avors.
- VINEYARD
- Th e fruit for our 2010 Napa Valley Pinot Grigio was grown in three carefully selected locations. Fifty percent was grown on our sustainably farmed Oakville Estate where our clay-loam soil and meticulous vine management consistently produce a small crop of ultra-premium grapes. irty- ve percent of the fruit was sourced from a cooler location in the Oak Knoll district, and 15% from a small, super-premium Santa Barbara vineyard.
- TASTING NOTES
- Bright, fresh pear and peach fruit mingle with litchi and Meyer lemon aromas in the complex nose of this wine. On the palate, these aromas are translated directly into the generous avor pro le. ere is a nice weight in the mouth, due to the synergy of the Oakville Estate components: Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay. is wine tastes remarkably like the ripe Pinot Grigio grapes from which it was made. Matches extremely well with light pasta dishes and almost any seafood. Serve chilled. - Chris Phelps, Winemaker
- HARVEST DATE
- August 30th – September 9th
- ANALYSIS AT HARVEST
- 21.9 Brix, 7.8 g/L TA, 3.25 pH
- WINEMAKING
- Whole-cluster pressed Cold-fermented exclusively in Stainless Steel No malolactic fermentation, no residual sugar Weekly lees stirring through December
- BOTTLING DATE
- February 8, 2011
- ANALYSIS AT BOTTLING
- 13.3% alc., 7.2 g/L TA, 3.28 pH
- CASE PRODUCTION
- 7,480 cases (12x750ml)
About the Winery
Swanson Vineyards owns 100 acres along the Oakville Cross Road in Oakville, located next to Opus One and Silver Oak Cellars. Swanson soils are part of geological history dating back to the formation of Napa Valley. The soils on the valley floor are clay loam, alluvial in nature, laid down as sediment from the frequent flooding over the millenia. It is here that our 100 acres produce wines of great elegance and finesse.
It is to these soils that Swanson Vineyards’ wines owe their wonderful aromas, flavors and complexities. The vines are further nurtured by the use of a variety of rootstock, clones, spacing and trellis systems, all selected to enhance the capabilities of the soil. The winemaker’s challenge is to ensure that all the potential of our vineyards is captured and reflected in our wines.
Winemaker Robin Akhurst
Robin Akhurst’s road to Napa took him around the globe through eight consecutive and exhausting harvests, picking up an impressive list of mentors along the way. Robin came to Napa Valley in 2009, working with winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown of Outpost and Schrader Cellars. He joined Envy Cellars as winemaker in 2010 where he has made the highly regarded Envy and Carter wines. A native of Scotland, Robin brings vast international experience from the cellars of New Zealand (where he received a graduate degree in viticulture and enology from Lincoln University in Christchurch), France** and Australia including Two Hands Winery in the Barossa Valley and Domaine Leflaive in Burgundy.
Robin deftly leads the winemaking team, including Assistant Winemaker Tony Herrera, who has been with us for 11 years, and Chris Phelps with his new, honorable “Winemaker Emeritus” title. Not only do we have the continuity of our seasoned team, we have a fresh and talented new palate to help guide the Swanson wines to the next level. Marco Capelli continues to make the Swanson Vineyards dessert wines including Angelica, Crepescule and Tardif.
Vineyard Notes
Swanson Vineyards’ alluvial soils are part of geologic history dating back to the formation of Napa Valley where frequent flooding of the Napa River over the millennia laid down clay loam sediment. It is here in the heart of Oakville that our 100 acres produce wines of great elegance and finesse.
Sustainable Farming Practices
Certified as sustainably farmed by Fish Friendly Farming, Swanson Vineyards’ wines owe their wonderful aromas, flavors and complexities to the soil and vineyard management. The vines are nurtured by the use of spacing, and trellis systems all selected to parallel the capabilities of the soil. Our mission is to ensure that the potential of our vineyards is captured and reflected in our wines.