2009 Manzana Pinot Noir

The Wine...

This dark ruby colored wine has wonderful scents of fruity plum, and strawberry; floral notes suggest a beautiful bouquet of violets. At inception this wine has a firm entry and a good middle body grip. The tastes abound with many flavors….citrus, raspberry cherry and cola. This wine has exquisite texture, excellent follow through and very good length on the finish with silky long tannins on the palate.

The Vineyard...

Dutton Ranch farms over eighty unique, separate vineyards located in the coolest areas of the Russian River Valley, primarily in the sub-appellation known as the Green Valley. We have selected our favorite vineyards from our family’s Dutton Ranch to craft wines reflecting our vision of a signature Russian River Valley Pinot Noir. The Manzana Vineyard is located next to our Dutton Palms Chardonnay Vineyard, located in the heart of the Green Valley. Manzana’s hillside vineyard is east facing, which is an optimal location for growing Pinot Noir. Planted to clone Dijon 828 in 2001, this vineyard produces wine of red fruits with a bold luscious mouth-feel. The vines planted in the Gold Ridge type soil historically produce wines of this consistent character.

The Winemaking...

 After de-stemming into small open top fermenters, the must is cold-soaked to gently extract spice and fruit characters, while extenuating harsher tannins. We punch down a maximum of three times a day, according to the stage of the fermentation. After fermentation, the juice is pressed and racked into French oak to age. We select the best barrels from the Manzana lot for this vineyard designated wine. The wine is racked after 10 months in barrel and bottled unfiltered in July 2009