Fred's Vintaged View:
When I planted the Floodgate Vineyard, I used eight different Pinot Noir clones and planted to obtain maximum clonal diversity and complexity. After hand-harvesting, the grapes were destemmed and whole-berry fermented in our small, open–top fermenters, using the naturally occurring yeasts on the grapes. The lots were blended after pressing and immediately barreled down utilizing all Burgundy coopered French Oak of which 50% are new barrels, the balance being 1-3 year-old barrels. The wine is racked only once to remove the sediment out of barrels, utilizing nitrogen gas to preclude any oxidation of this delicate wine. After 20 months of barrel aging, the wine was bottled and is both unfined and unfiltered.
Like a wonderful French Burgundy, the aromatics of the wine are both rich and complex, with wonderful spice and floral aromas. On the palate the wine has a richness beyond its body. Though not as big in fruit mid-palate as some other California Pinots, the fruit dimensions grow as the wine travels through your mouth and has a quality that I call “sap”, which is the viscosity of the finish and how it lingers on the palate. I’m obviously very impressed with this wine. Perhaps it’s because really good Pinot Noirs are so ethereal and not to be taken for granted.
Tasting Notes:
Enticing aromatics unique to the best Pinot Noirs introduce
this complex and well-balanced wine. Smooth, rich and fullbodied, our 2001 Floodgate Pinot offers delicious velvety flavors of cherry and sweet tobacco, mocha and vanilla. This wine captures the essence of the varietal, the perfect union of fruit, oak and tannin with an underlying structure to create the alluring nuances only found in great Pinots.
Vineyard
Floodgate Vineyard sits 500 feet above the Anderson Valley floor on the ridge top at the valley’s far west end. A perfect southwest exposure causes the soil to warm quickly and brings a distinct and recognizable flavor to the grapes. The elevation and cooler climate means late ripening and harvesting. The vineyard was planted to six low-yield pinot noir clones to produce the most complex and intensely flavored Pinot Noir possible.
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