Nose
cherry, Asian spice,
red plum, and maybe even candy apple
on the nose.
Palate
The palate shows rich
blackberry and cherry flavors, along
with that classic Donum Estate flavor
that we call sassafras, for lack of a
better descriptor. Full and intense but
with excellent structure this is showing
remarkable complexity now, but will
only get better with more time in bottle,
as extra layers develop.
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
The season unfolded event-free, with normal budbreak, and good winter rains to fill the soil profile,
giving us the resources for a promising season. Strong and even shoot growth is one of the benchmarks
for a good season. Flowering occurred late in May, which is very normal, indicating we would pick in late
September. Temperatures at flowering were mild, leading to a healthy fruit set. Most of the summer
months continued with mild weather, allowing for less stress on the vines and causing a slightly larger
berry size than normal, which is one of the reasons 2012 was so bountiful.
The season continued quite perfectly for us growers, with no untimely weather occurrences; overall it
was a mild to cooler season. September saw a few days of heat, which helped to push harvest into gear.
And happily, harvest continued over the course of weeks, allowing us to focus on each of our vineyards,
and blocks, picking them at peak maturity. After the stress of 2011 this was a wonderful gift. All our
fruit was harvested before the first Fall rains visited the valley in mid-October.
Bottling
BOTTLING DATE: February 5, 2014.
Winemaking
The Estate Pinot Noir was blended from five different lots in 2012, which were harvested
separately over about two weeks in October. Each block was hand-harvested and sorted, with the
fruit generally in exquisite condition thanks to the beautiful October weather. Cold-soaks lasted
from 6 to 10 days, with fermentations lasting anywhere from 5 to 10 days. Throughout fermentation
the cap was punched-down three or four times per day, to ensure proper extraction. The
fermented wine was allowed to remain on the skins upon completion of fermentation for two to
twelve days, with pressing occurring when tannins had reached the desired level. The free run
wine underwent malolactic fermentation in barrel over a period of about 3 months.
The wine aged in barrel for 11 months, at which point we tasted through all of our Carneros lots and
selected the best barrels for the Donum Carneros. The top barrels came from 5 vineyards blocks, mostly
planted to Donum clone, with a small block of Dijon 667 also included. These barrels were aged another
four months, before being rack, blended, and bottled in February 2014.
Aging
59% new French oak (Francois
Frères, Cadus, Gamba, Saury)
Appearance
The 2012 Estate Pinot is medium ruby to
garnet in color.
