2005 THOMAS ROAD PINOT NOIR

The Wine
The wine has a deep ruby color with aromas of dark fruits and hints of cinnamon and nutmeg. Medium full-bodied with a smooth texture, flavors of boysenberry, black raspberry and Bing cherry shows through. Undertones of caramelized sugar, vanilla and graham cracker delicately linger on the palate.

The Vineyard
Dutton Ranch farms over sixty 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. Thomas Road Vineyard is located at the northeastern part of the Green Valley. Planted to clone Dijon 115 in 1997, this vineyard produces wine of dark berries with a bold firm mouth-feel. The vines planted on the rockier Sebastopol type soil historically produce wines of this consistent character. This fearless wine is defined as the “Big Brother” of our pinot noirs.

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.

Tech Notes
2005 Thomas Road Pinot Noir (sold out)
2004 Thomas Road Pinot Noir (sold out)
2003 Thomas Road Pinot Noir (sold out)
2002 Thomas Road Pinot Noir (sold out)