Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2015 Pinot Noir Swan/828 was also barrel fermented (as are all of the Pinot Noirs) with around 20% stems. It was aged 10 months in 55% new French oak. This ruby colored 2015 gives up classic notes of ripe cherries and framboise intermixed with underbrush, dried earth, and spice. It's medium-bodied, supple, straightforward and classic stuff that will keep for 7-8 years at a minimum.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale to medium ruby-purple in color, the 2015 Pinot Noir Swan / 828 has pretty potpourri, spice box, seaweed and sautéed herbs notes with a core of Bing cherries, cranberries and rhubarb. Medium-bodied with a firm, chewy backbone, it delivers mouthfilling red berry and earth layers, finishing long and on a mineral note.
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.”
A geographic and climatic paradise for grape vines, Monterey is a part of the greater Central Coast AVA and contains within it five smaller sub-appellations, including Arroyo Seco, San Lucas, San Bernabe, Hames Valley and the famous Santa Lucia Highlands. The climate is relatively warm but tempered by cool, coastal winds, allowing the regions in Monterey County an exceptionally long growing season. Bud break often happens two weeks sooner and harvest tends to be two weeks later compared to other surrounding regions.
Monterey’s coastal side, where the cooling ocean fog allows grapes to develop a perfect sugar-acid balance, excels in the production of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Warmer, inland subzones are home to fleshy, concentrated and full-bodied reds like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Zinfandel.
Chardonnay, covering about 40% of vineyard acreage, is the most widely planted grape in all of Monterey County.