
PHILOSOPHY
Lynmar Estate celebrates the distinctive terroir of the various vineyards we farm to create wines that are elegant, complex, balanced, and age worthy. Acting as stewards of the land, the winemak¬ing team takes great care to craft wines that truly represent the dynamic, cool-climate soils from the vineyards where the grapes are grown. A genuine mosaic of the land, the people, the food and the synergy of place at Lynmar Estate is revealed in each vintage. In the heart of the Sonoma Coast’s Petaluma Wind Gap, three generations of the Karen family sustainably farm fifty acres of Pinot Noir. Here at Terra de Promissio, clay-loam soils and chilly coastal breezes create ideal conditions for this finicky varietal.
2007 GROWING SEASON
By almost any measure the 2007 vintage looks absolutely fantastic, especially in the coolest areas of Russian River Valley and the Sonoma Coast. Clearly, Pinot Noir is generating much of the hype, and deservedly so given the amazing quality that appears to have developed. The growing season was nearly perfect, with a relatively cool, mild summer and minimal late-season heat spikes. Though a few mid-harvest rain showers caused some concerns and accelerated picking in our latest ripening sites, these locations ultimately yielded many outstanding lots. We feel the defining quality of the wines from 2007 will be that rare combination of intensity and balance. With Pinot Noir, we had small berry size along with exceptional hang time, which together have yielded wines of uncommon concentration and structure. This is a vintage where you will see many wines that are powerful, but still possess finesse. We also expect the wines from this vintage to have excellent aging potential.
VINEYARDS & WINEMAKING
For the 2007 vintage we received approximately 65% of the 777 clone and 35% of the 115 clone, with the final blend this year ending up as 55% 777 and 45% 115. Once again, this vineyard yielded some our clean¬est, most pristine fruit. All grapes were hand-harvested early in the morning and immediately trans¬ported to the winery, then hand-sorted before being de-stemmed and transferred without pumping into small (2.5 and 5 ton) open-top fermenters. The de-stemmed fruit was then cold-soaked for seven to ten days at 50°F before allowing native yeast fermentation to begin. Each fermentation was punched down by hand two to four times per day as needed. Total skin contact time was 14-18 days de¬pending on the lot. Fermentations were then drained (with skins gently basket-pressed) and lightly settled overnight. The new wines were then put into barrels where the secondary, malolactic fermen¬tation occurred over the next several months. Racking was minimal, with aging on light lees until the final blend was assembled. The wine was then bottled unfined and unfiltered.
TASTING NOTES
As our only Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, our Terra de Promissio offering has a very distinctive sensory profile and texture. While obviously still in its youth, this wine is not surprisingly just a bit muted when first opened. With only a little air and breathing, however, wonderfully expansive notes of dark fruits and classic Sonoma Coast baking spice begin emerging in waves, followed by a complex array of pure berry and cherry aromas, exotic Asian spices, and subtle toasty oak nuances. In the mouth, this wine has an ideal balance between force, intensity and balance. While the fruit flavors echo the aromas in their dark, brooding intensity, there is at the same time an elegance from the cool, slow-ripening vintage where added dimension was gained without any hint of overripe character. The moderate clay in the soils at this site give this wine a tannin structure notably distinctive from our Russian River Valley offerings (as it should), with such transparency and expression of origins being the beauty of Pinot Noir. There is a healthy amount of young, grippy tannins here that give length to the finish and promote all the spicy, dark fruit aromas and flavors to linger for many seconds. While this wine could be enjoyed as early as this summer with decanting and bolder summer foods, it will not begin to show at its best until the fall and winter of 2009-2010 and should reward careful cellaring through at least 2016.
WINE INFORMATION
Varietal Composition:
100% Pinot Noir
Aging
14 mo. in 60 gal. French oak barrels (58% new)
Alcohol: 14.4%
pH: 3.67
T.A.: .51g/100ml
Winemaker:
Hugh Chappelle
Consulting Winemaker:
Paul Hobbs
Consulting Viticulturist:
Greg Adams
Cases Produced:
388(12x750ml)
Bottling Date:
January 2009
Suggested Retail Price:
$70
Other products in the category Wines:
2006 Quail Hill Vineyard Chardonnay -- Appearance is bright yellow-green gold and leads into a complex nose of toast, peaches & cream, bread, acacia, and hazelnuts. The aromas are fresh and compelling with noticeable intensity and focus. The palate is full bodied and rich yet elegant
2006 Quail Hill Vineyard, Bliss Block Pinot Noir -- Our “Bliss Block” Pinot Noir is from a unique part of the estate and in one of the coolest pockets of the property. From the very beginning this vineyard block gave us wines of a highly distinctive and individualistic quality
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Quail Hill Chardonnay Vertical -- 2004 - 2006 Quail Hill Vineyard Chardonnay
2004 Quail Hill Vineyard Chardonnay -- The flavors are complex and subtle, revealing bright key lime, verbena and Gravenstein apple notes, balanced by ginger, clove and a briny minerality.
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