Winemaker's Notes
The Green Valley of Russian River Valley is getting a lot of attention as it is one of the two coolest overall parts of the AVA (our High Slopes Pinot Noir comes from the other one). I think it is interesting to look at the similarities and differences between these two vineyard sites as well as between vintages. The clones and rootstocks are different in each site, but soils are both Goldridge. Both wines are fully destemmed, de-vatted and pressed according to their own needs, yet are remarkably similar in their extraction regimes and time in barrel. 2021 was more of a drought-like early season with a cooler finish. 2022 was kind of the opposite, with a warmer finish to the season punctuated by an immense heat dome that both these bottlings missed as they were harvested before that occurred. The 2021’s seem a bit more structured, while the 2022’s seem generally a bit more generous.