The 2005 growing season was one of the mildest on record. Late rains in June provided the vines with enough reserves to cope with the warm August experienced as well as tempering the ripening process. September was particularly cool and all the Pinot noir and Chardonnay were harvested in cool foggy weather. This preserved wonderful natural acidity in conjunction with fantastic flavor development at relatively low sugars.

We started harvesting Pinot noir on September 1st and finished the Chardonnay on the 29th allowing us the luxury of not being forced to pick to avoid heat spikes or inclement weather. Sugars for the Pinot ranged between 24 and 25.5 with wonderful stem and seed maturation which we feel has given the 05’s superb structure and tannin ripeness which has been highlighted by our whole cluster fermentation regime. Currently the Pinot is resting in barrel with some barrels already having started their native malolactic fermentation.

The Chardonnay produced brown seeds early on during the ripening cycle with elevated malic acids that allowed for excellent flavor development. The Chardonnay was picked across a sugar range of 24 to 25.5 Brix to capture the wonderful crispness and acidity at lower sugars and the viscosity and richness of the last pick days. Most of the barrels have been sulfured with only a few still to complete their fermentation.

In retrospect we could have not scripted a better 2005 harvest with the quality of fruit harvested exceeding our expectations and we are confident that the vintage will produce exceptional wines with great longevity.