Tolosa Winery 1772 Ranch Pinot Noir 2008
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Cowboy dreams of owning a cattle ranch brought Tolosa’s founder Robin Baggett to the San Luis Obispo Coast 40 years ago. The cold Pacific wind and soils from ancient seabed to limestone made him realize he was on a frontier of a different sort: a remarkable place for Pinot Noir. A true believer in terroir and the deepest evocation of place, Tolosa is the expression of his commitment to discover special coastal vineyards throughout California and to spare no effort to craft nuanced and balanced Pinot Noir and Chardonnay of distinctive character to rival any in the world.
Robin has entrusted winemaker Frederic Delivert with the expression of cool climate Pinot Noir through the wines of Tolosa. Maybe it was destiny. Tolosa is named after the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, the mission dedicated to Saint Louis, Bishop of Toulouse. Frederic hails from Toulouse, France. He was introduced to Tolosa and the San Luis Obispo Coast just in time for the 2017 harvest. He immediately perceived that the combination of Pacific influences and unique soil compositions of Edna Valley provide an incredible palette for very special wines.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
California’s coolest wine growing area, Edna Valley excels in the production of high quality Central Coast wines like Pinot noir, Chardonnay, Rhône Blends and aromatic white wines. It has a cool Mediterranean climate and an incredibly long growing season, giving late-ripening varieties plenty of opportunity to develop great phenolic complexity.
Its northwest to southeast orientation creates a direct path for cool Pacific air and fog to penetrate the valley from the Los Osos and Morro Bay area inwards. Low hillsides of both calcareous and volcanic soils are home to much of the vineyard acreage of the Edna Valley.