As is always the case, our Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir is a blend of Clos Pepe and Cargasacchi Vineyards. Certainly, the blend changes from vintage to vintage, in 2008 it is a blend of 31% Clos Pepe and 69% Cargasacchi fruit, but each year the point is largely the same….create a lush, more immediate wine that still represents the Sta. Rita Hills Appellation. 2008 proved to be one of our more challenging vintages. This was due to the frost damaged that occurred in the region in early March, which caused an extremely small fruit set. This limited our options in the vineyard as we were not able to drop fruit to increase concentration or let extra fruit hang to slow ripening. In the 2008 Sta. Rita Pinot we used about 20% whole cluster in the Cargasacchi component only. Due to the scare yields at Clos Pepe we were concerned about excessive tannins in the grapes and felt it wiser not to employ the use of whole cluster. We believe that these quantities gave us the complexity that we desired without undue tannins.

The 2008 Siduri Sta. Rita Hills shows wonderful notes of rose petal, lilac, blackberry, and raspberry on the nose. The mouth is full, rich, and seamless, exhibiting a wonderful velvet-like texture and concentrated fruit flavors joined by vanilla and hints of dried herbs. The finish is persistent, dancing on a balance beam of fine tannins and acidity. We have no doubts that this wine will age well but it is so compelling now that we can't keep our hands off of it.

Cases: 325
Released: January 2010