
PHILOSOPHY
Lynmar Estate celebrates the distinctive terroir of the various vineyards we farm creating wines that are elegant, complex, balanced, and age worthy. Acting as stewards of the land, the winemaking team takes great care to craft wines that truly represent the dynamic, cool-climate soils from the vineyards where our 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.
2006 GROWING SEASON
The 2006 growing season was particularly challenging in the Russian River Valley. Higher humidity during the summer months resulted in greater mildew pressure across the appellation, exacerbated by weather during harvest that provided perfect growing conditions for botrytis, or "noble rot”. Luckily Pinot Noir is an early ripening variety, even in a cooler site such as Hawk Hill, and our vineyard crew here did everything right this year. Numerous extra “passes” ensured the area around grape clusters had good air flow and that crop loads were balanced. Primary characteristics of the wines from 2006, in general, were lower than average alcohols and bright natural acidity. This is a vintage that will play very well to Lynmar’s balanced, elegant house style.
VINEYARDS & WINEMAKING
Situated just four miles from the Pacific ocean at the southwest tip of Green Valley / Sonoma Coast border, Paul and Vicki Michalczyk have six acres of Pommard and Dijon clone Pinot Noir on Goldridge soils. This site receives a strong coastal influence resulting in an exceptionally long growing season and small berries of intense flavor and natural concentration. Lynmar is now the sole recipient of this fruit. This was our third vintage working with Hawk Hill fruit. That demonstrated quality set the stage for 2006 and debuting our first designate from this spectacular site. For this vintage we received approximately 50% Pommard and 50% 115 clones, with the final blend being 60% Pommard and 40% 115. All grapes were hand-harvested early in the morning and immediately transported to the winery where they were hand-sorted before being de-stemmed and transferred without pumping into small (2.5 and 5 ton) open-top fermenters. This de-stemmed fruit was then cold-soaked for 7-10 days at 50°F before allowing native yeast fermentation to begin. Each fermentation was punched down by hand 2 to 4 times per day as needed. Total skin contact time was 14-16 days depending 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 fermentation occurred over the next several months. Racking was minimal, with aging on light lees until the final blend was assembled. This wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered.
TASTING NOTES
At first glance, the appearance here shows a stunning deep ruby-purple color with a vibrant violet rim – clearly youthful and brooding. Upon opening, the nose is amazing, displaying elusive floral-violet notes, deep black cherry, subtle smoke, and hints of jasmine tea. With air and time in the glass there also emerge rich and elegant aromas of game, mushroom and spice. The palate has an excellent balance of silky fine grained tannin and refreshing coastal acidity, together providing a very classy structure. The core of fruit within is complex, intense and pure…black cherry, violets, mushroom and game are just the beginning. The finish is long and fresh with lovely tannic grip and bright firm acids along with just the right amount lingering toasty oak. While still slightly “tight” on the palate, this actually reinforces the aging potential of our first vintage of this new designate. If possible hold this wine until spring 2009 when it will by then have had 1 full year of bottle age. We expect this wine to not even begin drinking at its best until 2010 and further cellaring to be rewarded through 2015.
WINE INFORMATION
Varietal Composition:
100% Pinot Noir
Winemaker:
Hugh Chappelle
Aging:
16 mo. in 60 gal. French oak barrels
(60% new)
Consulting Winemaker:
Paul Hobbs
Consulting Viticulturist:
Greg Adams
Alcohol: 14.15%
pH: 3.50
T.A.: 0.57g/100ml
Bottling Date:
March 24, 2008
Cases Produced: 486 (6 x750ml) and 10 (6 x 1.5L)
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
2006 Quail Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir -- What we have in this wine is taut highly aromatic expression of our estate vineyard where elegance, balance, and structure are all seamlessly interwoven. The texture here is still youthfully firm but with a vibrant energy
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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