Fennell Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills 2019

From the winery: The first grapes for Fennell Family Wines, the Pinot Noir from Peake Ranch, were just beautiful. Made from two very complementary clonal selections of Pinot: clone 667 provides excellent structure, dark fruits and richness, and clone 115 gives bright red fruits, spice, and high-toned floral aromatics. After hand picking at night, the fruit was destemmed with whole clusters added in layers for complexity. Cold soaking in open-top bins provided slow extraction before fermentation began naturally. Gentle punch downs allowed the tannin profile to build while cooling the warm, fermenting cap. The wine was pressed shortly after dryness and moved to barrels for malolactic fermentation and aging. Bottled after ten months in barrel, this wine has developed well with time in bottle.