We are very pleased to release our third vintage of Pinot Noir from our estate vineyard located in the heart of the Santa Rita Hills viticultural appellation.  Since its’ premier in 2001, Fe Ciega Vineyard Pinot Noir has garnered critical and consumer acclaim, and we believe the 2003 will also earn comparable accolades.

The 2003 harvest was somewhat difficult from a variety of standpoints. Due to cloudy and cool weather during the critical bloom period the set was very poor resulting in our smallest crop ever at .9 ton per acre.  The area continued to experience a lower than normal amount of rainfall during the winter.  We began our irrigations very early in the season to compensate for the lack of rainfall.  During the critical harvest phase, there was a short but intense heat spell which was a shock to many of the Pinot Noir vines. Careful but generous irrigation during this time helped to alleviate some of the stress caused by this heat spell.  We were able to harvest our grapes in good condition on three different days; September 10, 13, and 16.

Unfortunately not all of our vineyard sources were as adept in dealing with these challenges. The wine from Sanford & Benedict Vineyard was substandard and was sold in bulk to another winery.  The wine from Mt. Carmel Vineyard also did not come up to the quality of past wines and I blended it into our Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir bottling.

This will be a vintage of erratic quality, which makes us even more pleased that we were able maintain the high level of quality of previous vintages.

Our usual regime of 100% destemming, cold soaking the fruit for four to five days, and fermenting in one and one and a half ton lots was employed.  The wine aged in French oak barrels of which 35% were new.  The wine was fined and filtered prior to bottling on August 28, 2004.

The aroma of the wine is smoky, spicy, with hints of red plums. On the palate the wine is medium bodied with elegant flavors and a silky texture with firm acidity. This wine will age for three to five additional years of bottling aging.

Rick Longoria
Winemaker

Production: 340 cases
Alcohol by volume: 14.7%
PH: 3.56
Titratable acidity: 0.65 g/100 ml.
Release date: June 1, 2005
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