This is the second bottling of Pinot Noir from our estate vineyard, Fe Ciega. The vineyard is located in the southern part of the Santa Rita Hills appellation in what can be referred to as the Santa Rosa Road corridor. Neighboring vineyards to the east are Mt. Carmel, Seasmoke, Rinconada, Sanford & Benedict, and Fiddlestix. The one vineyard to the west is Cargasacchi. We have about equal parts of three clones; Pommard, Dijon 115, and Dijon 667 within the 7.75 acre vineyard.

Following 2001, a year which saw reduced crop levels I was sure that the law of averages would work in our favor to give us a normal crop load of around 1.5 to 2 tons per acre. Mother Nature had other plans and our area saw some of the smallest crop levels of Pinot Noir in many years. Our yield at Fe Ciega was actually less than in its’ first year of production, at .9 ton per acre.

We experienced excellent weather during the early part of the 2002 harvest. We began our harvest of Fe Ciega Pinot Noir on September 16 and it continued until September 23rd. The sugar content of the grapes averaged 25 Brix with excellent acidity.

The grapes were destemmed entirely and crushed into small open top fermenters. We let the grapes soak for five days before inoculating with yeast. The grapes were pressed off at dryness which occurred about ten days after the start of fermentation. The wine was settled in a tank for four days then transferred to French oak barrels for aging. One third of the barrels were new. After allowing the settling of fining agents, the wine was racked from barrels and blended in early January, filtered and bottled in mid-January.

The wine is currently somewhat inhibited by the wines’ moderate tannins. The low crop level has concentrated the flavors and tannins of the wine. Allowing the wine to breathe in the glass for thirty minutes or so will enable the aromas and flavors to emerge.

This second vintage of wine from this site is helping to establish a rather distinctive and strong vineyard character. Though it shows a Santa Rita Hills character, it also has its’ own personality. We released the 2001 Fe Ciega in June of last year, however because of the closed in nature of the 2002 we are delaying the release of the wine until October 2004. I expect the wine to develop to its’ peak in five to seven years from release.

Rick Longoria
Winemaker
May 2004

Production: 446 cases
Alcohol by volume: 14.8%
PH: 3.60
Titratable acidity: .60 g/100 ml.
back to Our Wines page