While many view the 2008 vintage as "classic" it is the 2009 Willamette Valley vintage that seems to be
garnering the raves from those customers of ours that normally drink California Pinot Noir. The wines in
2009 are riper, fuller, and much more immediately forward, making them perfect matches for those customers
with more "New World" palates.
What truly distinguishes 2009 in our minds is the crop size. Despite limiting the crop to 1 cluster per
shoot, yields were still far higher than normal as every berry seemed to set on every cluster and the average
cluster weights were huge. Given this situation, dropping more fruit on the ground made no sense,
so we chose to harvest all of the fruit and then bleed off ("saignee") some of the juice to restore a proper
skin-to-juice ratio to the grapes. Depending on the total yield we bled off 15-25% of the juice.
The 2009 Siduri Hawk's View Vineyard Pinot Noir is a selection of just 4 barrels. Blending 3 barrels of
Wadenswil clone with 1 barrel of Dijon clone Pinot Noir produced the most complex and compelling
wine so, despite the small quantity, this is what we bottled as the vineyard-designate. The wine is rich,
forward, and flavorful, yet deceptively light on its feet. There's a mouthful of raspberry, cherry, and
green tea flavors, along with hints of minerality and forest floor. This wine shows both richness and
moderate weight, making it a Pinot Noir that is enjoyable to drink now and yet may well age gracefully
based on its sense of balance.
Cases Produced: 98 cases
Release Date:March 2011
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