The 2001 Siduri Sonoma County Pinot Noir comes primarily from the Van der Kamp and Hirsch Vineyards. We've worked with these two vineyards for as long or longer than any other vineyards and you'd figure that, by now, we'd have them figured out. Then along comes the 2001 vintage and we discover that we still have a great deal to learn. Accordingly, we were very selective in the blending of the Van der Kamp and Hirsch single-vineyard wines and more wine made it into the Appellation program.
Actually, a large part of the reason that 2001 was such a different experience at both vineyards is that we purchased new sections of fruit at both. At the Van der Kamp Vineyard we received some first crop Dijon clone Pinot along with our usual "teenage vine" fruit. At the Hirsch Vineyard we purchased fruit from two new sections (Blocks 3A & 7) in addition to our usual "Old Vineyard" section. With these new sections we experimented with different yeasts, different fermenting vessels, and different barrels. Then we selected he barrels for the single-vineyard wines and blended some of the remaining barrels to create the 2001 Siduri Sonoma County Pinot Noir.
The 2001 Siduri Sonoma County Pinot Noir is a big, rather full bodied Appellation wine. It shows a rustic character along with some of the traditional smoked meat character that is traditional found in the Van der Kamp wines. It also has some wonderful mid-palate lift from the more cherry flavored Hirsch fruit and the addition of a barrel of Garys' Vineyard Pinot. The finish is a bit more tannic leading us to believe that, although this is an Appellation wine, it wouldn't hurt to lay it down for a few years.
WINE STATISTICS
Harvest Dates: September 5,13,14,19,21, October 1
Blend: 76% Van der Kamp, 16% Hirsch, 8% Garys'
Clones: Mt. Eden, Pommard, 777, Martini, Pisoni Clone
Case Production: 324 case
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