Sparkling Pinot Noir 2021
Though our first two vintages (2020 and 2021) we primarily made wines from non-grape fruits, we still hoped to work with a small amount of grapes to bridge the gap between our time in California and the hybrid / table grapes we planted in 2020 that weren’t yet bearing fruit. In 2021, our friend living on Chehalem Mountain in Oregon offered us a bit of Pinot Noir from the vineyard surrounding his home. The fruit was beautiful, grown using biodynamic practices on a very steep slope overlooking the valley. We spent the night in the vineyard, woke up for an early am pick of just enough fruit to fill the truck (two bins) and then jetted back north. We waited for the early am ferry home, and by 7 am were crushing the bunches into a stainless steel tank. We lidded the tank, and let the Pinot berries macerate for almost two weeks, and finally delicately drained the juice (no pressing!) when almost dry to bottle as a pet nat.
The final wine was unlike any other Pinot we had made or tasted in the past: briny, fresh and inky with an extremely zesty bubble. The first incarnation of Sparkling Red that we made (to be re-named Big Red Frizzante in 2022!).
Though our first two vintages (2020 and 2021) we primarily made wines from non-grape fruits, we still hoped to work with a small amount of grapes to bridge the gap between our time in California and the hybrid / table grapes we planted in 2020 that weren’t yet bearing fruit. In 2021, our friend living on Chehalem Mountain in Oregon offered us a bit of Pinot Noir from the vineyard surrounding his home. The fruit was beautiful, grown using biodynamic practices on a very steep slope overlooking the valley. We spent the night in the vineyard, woke up for an early am pick of just enough fruit to fill the truck (two bins) and then jetted back north. We waited for the early am ferry home, and by 7 am were crushing the bunches into a stainless steel tank. We lidded the tank, and let the Pinot berries macerate for almost two weeks, and finally delicately drained the juice (no pressing!) when almost dry to bottle as a pet nat.
The final wine was unlike any other Pinot we had made or tasted in the past: briny, fresh and inky with an extremely zesty bubble. The first incarnation of Sparkling Red that we made (to be re-named Big Red Frizzante in 2022!).
Though our first two vintages (2020 and 2021) we primarily made wines from non-grape fruits, we still hoped to work with a small amount of grapes to bridge the gap between our time in California and the hybrid / table grapes we planted in 2020 that weren’t yet bearing fruit. In 2021, our friend living on Chehalem Mountain in Oregon offered us a bit of Pinot Noir from the vineyard surrounding his home. The fruit was beautiful, grown using biodynamic practices on a very steep slope overlooking the valley. We spent the night in the vineyard, woke up for an early am pick of just enough fruit to fill the truck (two bins) and then jetted back north. We waited for the early am ferry home, and by 7 am were crushing the bunches into a stainless steel tank. We lidded the tank, and let the Pinot berries macerate for almost two weeks, and finally delicately drained the juice (no pressing!) when almost dry to bottle as a pet nat.
The final wine was unlike any other Pinot we had made or tasted in the past: briny, fresh and inky with an extremely zesty bubble. The first incarnation of Sparkling Red that we made (to be re-named Big Red Frizzante in 2022!).