Saintsbury Brown Ranch Pinot Noir 2007

To produce a single vineyard wine you should be convinced the vineyard has something unique and identifiable to offer. It should be a vineyard that will yield a wine whose intensity and personality you are unable to obtain in your other wines. We knew this about our Brown Ranch after the first harvest of its Pinot Noir grapes in 1995.

There are eight lots that are separately fermented, aged and assessed. And while each has its unique qualities due to clonal, rootstock and terroir differences, there is a consistent thread running though these Brown Ranch pinot noirs. The ranch has a combination of typical Carneros clay loams and cobbly clay loams as well as some volcanic soil types on steeper hillsides.

Wines from this vineyard show more rich earthiness and black fruit than the more red-fruit character of other lots in our cellar. A dark fruit intensity with stunning persistence is a hallmark of this wine. Less than a third of the pinot noir from this, our best vineyard site, goes into the Brown Ranch Pinot Noir each year. It is packaged into six-bottle boxes with a package design that pays tribute to George Saintsbury.