2003 PINOT NOIR CLOS
PEPE
Santa
Rita Hills
We are slowly changing
the way we make pinot noir at The Ojai Vineyard. My interest in
pinot grew out of a love of the wines from the Burgundy region
of France, and that passion for those wines continues unabated.
No one style describes Burgundy, but I would argue that the finest
examples combine a rare combination of delicacy and intensity.
Here in California, thanks to our beneficent climate, we have
the luxury of choosing at what level of ripeness to pick the grapes-a
choice that greatly affects the nature of the wine. And if we
want to make pinot noir like the Italians make Amarone, we don't
even have to place the harvested grapes on drying racks to wait
for them to shrivel to raisin: that can happen right on the vine
before we pick. Conversely, although we have all had the experience
of drinking that surprisingly wonderful little wine from Burgundy
that was made from unripe grapes in a difficult vintage, nobody
I know is seeking to reproduce Burgundy in a bad year. Still,
between the extremes lie many choices that have an enormous impact
on the character of pinot noir.
My point is that we are now choosing to pick our grapes slightly
less ripe, trying to capture more of the great perfume of pinot,
which is lost forever when the grapes become overripe. We are
working to maintain the intensity obtainable from the California
climate by choosing to farm for lower yields. Fruit from low-yielding
vines is more flavored and has more backbone and minerality. While
it would be much more economical to get that intensity by cropping
up the vines and waiting to pick the grapes after they concentrated
into raisins, so much of pinot's soul would be lost. Wines of
that sort have great impact but no balance, and thus lack juiciness
and drinkability.
This Clos Pepe pinot is from the tiny harvest of 2003. With a
yield of just one ton to the acre, there's fabulous intensity
here, yet it has great balance, making it a joy to drink today.