Hook & Ladder Pinot Noir Russian River Valley, 2017

Russian River Valley is one of the best places in California to produce high quality Pinot Noir wines. Cecil De Loach planted these vineyards in 1973 on the plains and gently rolling hills off Olivet Road in western Santa Rosa. Coastal fog hangs in the mornings, protecting the vines from the sun’s rays and keeping temperatures cool. After burning off during the day, it returns in the evening so that the Pinot Noir vines enjoy a long slow ripening. Hook & Ladder 2017 Pinot Noir has a spicy, resin aroma with strawberries in the background. It is medium bodied with good mid-palate cherry and herbal flavours. It has a fine silky texture with more raspberry and strawberry flavours emerging in the glass, leading to a long juicy acidity. Well structured, it has the potential to mature nicely for some years. Jason uses Burgundian techniques such as whole berry and whole cluster fermentations in small batches. The fermentation was carried out by natural yeast with regular punching down of the cap three time a day. It spent eight months in French oak barrels with 20% new.