Nose
Aromas of cherry, strawberry,
sassafras, crème brulee and spring
flowers waft from the glass.
Palate
Dark cherry and blackberry
flavors on the palate. Spicy, with incredible
density and richness, the wine is
very structured, with notable tannins
and cassis flavors lingering on the
finish.
Growing Conditions
The Donum Ranch covers the slopes of three hills in the Carneros region just north
of San Pablo Bay. Nestled amid these hills is a 50-acre vineyard, planted to a diverse
collection of Dijon clones and heirloom selections of Pinot Noir. Our Carneros Estate
Grown Pinot Noir not only comes from the best blocks in our vineyard – our grand
cru sites – but also is a selection of the most appealing barrels within each lot.
Harvest
After very cool growing seasons in back to back years (2011 & 2012), the 2013 vintage felt quite warm,
although it was actually close to average for Northern California. Bud break occurred very early thanks
to a warm spring, leading to concerns about an extremely early harvest, but we avoided any heat spikes
throughout the summer, which slowed things down in the vineyard. With all of our vineyards (and
seemingly everyone else’s in Sonoma and Napa) tracking around the same sugar levels, the potential for
too much fruit at once made everyone nervous, but cool weather at just the right times in early and late
September created the spacing we needed. The 2013 calendar year was very dry, but fortunately heavy
rains in November and December of 2012 provided enough moisture in the soil and water for irrigation
to last the growing season. One small rain event on September 21st and 22nd created some worries, but
little rain fell and strong winds dried the vineyards out quickly. Our harvest began at our Russian River
Vineyard on September 2, and wrapped up in Carneros on October 8.
Bottling
BOTTLING DATE: February 9, 2015.
Winemaking
Our flagship wine is always sourced from the best blocks on the Estate vineyard. The fruit was
hand-harvested early in the morning and arrived at the winery cool, where it was hand-sorted and
gravity fed to tank. The must cold-soaked for five to ten days before primary fermentations, which
tend to be long, lasting up to twenty days. The cap was punched down frequently to extract the
skins, with occasional pump-overs to bring oxygen to the yeast. The dry wine underwent malolactic
fermentation in barrel (60% new), before resting on the fine lees for 14 months. At that point we
tasted through and select the best blend, which became our Estate Pinot Noir.
Aging
French oak, 60% new (Francois
Frères, Cadus, Atelier, Gamba, Rousseau)
Appearance
The 2013 Carneros Estate is deep ruby
in color.
