2006 JEWELL BLOCK PINOT NOIR

The Wine
This Jewell Block Pinot has a typical soft color profile that packs an unexpected intense structure on both the nose and the palate. Starting with hues of garnet with wild strawberry, cherry and a touch of sandalwood hiding behind the fruit, mouth watering texture embodies strawberry, soft red cherry finished with a traditional cinnamon heart.

The Vineyard
Dutton Ranch farms over eighty unique, separate vineyards located in the coolest areas of the Russian River Valley, primarily in the sub-appellation known as the Green Valley. We have selected our favorite vineyards from our family’s Dutton Ranch to craft wine reflecting our vision of a signature Russian River Valley Pinot Noir. Located in the core of the Green Valley’s Russian River appellation and situated on the crown of the hill east to Dutton Ranch’s “Shop Block”, Jewell Vineyard was once home to Gravenstein Apples. Planted to chardonnay and pinot noir vines in 1995, our Jewell Block Pinot Noir truly is a gem exhibiting a superb source of fruit showing the way to an exceptional wine. Planted on traditional Gold Ridge soil that is prominent within the Green Valley appellation, the vineyard produces a delicate wine with layers of bright fruit and spice.

The Winemaking
After de-stemming into small open top fermenters, the must is cold-soaked for 5 days to gently extract spice and fruit characters, while extenuating harsher tannins. We punch down by hand up to four times daily, according to the stage of the fermentation. Each vineyard or block is fermented separately enabling us to afford optimization of each according to its needs, and to provide us with the most flexibility for blending. After fermentation, the individual lots are racked into French oak to age. Our winemaker chooses the barrels to emphasize the fruit and vineyard characteristics of the wine, while accenting the flavors of the barrels to avoid showcasing the oak itself. We carefully blend our favorite Dutton Ranch lots in the spring from these selected vineyards to allow the wine to marry and settle for bottling. The final blend rests in barrel until early summer when we bottle with minimal processing in July 2006.

Tech Notes
2006 Jewell Block Pinot Noir
2004 Jewell Block Pinot Noir
2003 Jewell Block Pinot Noir (sold out)
2002 Jewell Block Pinot Noir (sold out)