HARVEST NOTES

Even though we've faced drought conditions for the past few years, 2021 was the driest growing season we've had yet. At both our Maggy Hawk and Skycrest Vineyards, we rely on the rainfall in the Winter and Spring months to fill up our vineyard ponds, as this is the water we use to irrigate our vines. Our ponds ran dry a few weeks before harvest began, and luckily the grapes made it across the finish line. In "normal" vintages, we typically harvest the Chardonnay, White Pinot Noir, and Pinot Noir over the course of 2-3 weeks. In 2021, everything was ready at once, and we harvested over the course of 1.5 weeks. The clusters had a shorter ripening period and were harvested on the earlier side, which produced wines with intense hues, great acidity, and concentrated aromas and flavors. The vines for our White Pinot Noir were harvested on September 10th and 15th, 2021.

WINEMAKING

Due to the careful efforts in the vineyard, we were able to bypass the sorting line and send the grapes directly to the press. We utilized a "champagne" program on the press, which is a slower, gentler extraction of the juice from the grapes. The Pinot Noir juice was pressed directly to tank and allowed to settle overnight. It was then racked off the lees into neutral barrels. The juice was inoculated with multiple yeast strains to aid in aromatic and textural complexity and carried out its primary and malolactic fermentations in barrel. The wine spent 10 months ageing in neutral barrels, with no stirring. It was then racked to tank and blended just before it was bottled in the beginning of August 2022.

TASTING NOTES

The 2021 Anderson Valley White Pinot Noir opens with aromas of Ranier cherry, sea salt and bartlett pear. You’ll find silky texture paired with bright acid that runs through the center of the palate; intertwined with flavors of apricot, lemongrass and grapefruit rind and a long, lingering finish. This unique wine offers an entirely original and truly beautiful sensory experience.