Winery notes:
Our marquee La Cruz Vineyard stretches across our lower-elevation, hillside blocks overlooking Petaluma Valley. It includes plantings the Pommard clone and several Dijon clones like 667, 777, and 828.
WINE DETAILS
Vintage
2021
Varietal
Pinot Noir
Appellation
Petaluma Gap
Harvest Date
September 3, 2021
pH
3.62
Oak Regime
10 months in 25% New French Oak
Alcohol %
14.1
Wine Spectator
92
WINE PROFILE
Tasting Notes
2021 La Cruz Vineyard Pinot Noir has deep garnet color with notes of cassis and citrus on the nose. In the mouth, note of black currant are revealed alongside supple, integrated tannins. The wine has a lovely aromatic depth reminiscent of red peppercorns and spiced cake.
Ratings
92 pts, Ripe and pure, with a lovely, caressing feel to its red and black cherry puree flavors. This glides through easily, offering flashes of black tea, iris and hibiscus on the sleek finish. Shows a kiss of oak, too, allowing the fruit to breath. Drink now through 2030. James Molesworth, Wine Spectator
Vineyard Notes
By November 2020, it became apparent that the persistent, multi-year drought was adversely impacting the ponds’ levels. To reduce vine stress, we irrigated the vineyards early in the growing season to encourage them to pull nutrients from the soil and establish a healthy canopy. Keller Estate’s three rain-collection ponds, which we irrigate our vineyards, olive groves, and landscaping, were almost dry by May. Fortunately, we had fewer than anticipated heat spells in the summer. With well-established vineyard sites and intensive canopy management, the vines produced beautiful clusters, albeit with small berries. As a result, the 2021 wines were concentrated, succulent, and rich.
Winemaker Notes
At Keller Estate, we harvest our fruit at night to ensure that the fruit is cool when it arrives at the winery in the morning. Cool evenings are a signature of the Petaluma Gap, and Northern California in general, even during droughts and most heat spikes. Once at the winery, we de-stem the clusters into whole berries and chill berries for 24 hours to initiate a cold soak period. The fermentations are native yeasts, indigenous to this area, hence our care to farm regeneratively. The backbone of the 2021 La Crus Vineyard Pinot Noir is the Pommard clone, blended with other estate-grown clones like 667, 777, and 828, in our lower-elevation, hillside blocks. The barrels were aged in our cave for 10 months before bottling
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