Siduri Wines

The 2010 vintage was often one of extremes. There were tiny crops, remarkably cool weather, w/ two extreme heat spikes (one in August & one in September) , which led to grapes possessing high brix, high acids, & high nutrient levels. The Cargasacchi Vineyard, in the Sta. Rita Hills, certainly endured all of these extremes, but not in the same way as many of our other vineyards.

The 2010 vintage at Clos Pepe Vineyard was one characterized by a narrow picking window, somewhat higher than normal brix, & yet outstanding levels of natural acidity. All of this was brought on by a late September heat spike. This heat spike brought the grapes from our three sections closer together in terms of ripeness, pushed sugars up, but interestingly enough, failed to lower the acidity levels

Unfortunately, the 2010 vintage provided us w/ the smallest quantity of Garys' Vineyard fruit in many years, down over 25% from the 2009 harvest. Of course, we believe that good things do often come in small packages, & believe that, despite the limits on quantity, the quality of the Garys' Vineyard Pinot in 2010 is exceptionally high.

Once again, sadly, the 2010 vintage has produced a miniscule amount of Hirsch Vineyard Pinot Noir. Yields were just over 1 ton per acre from our 2.75 acre section, & out of this tiny quantity of wine we selected only 4 barrels for the final blend (two of the Pommard clone & two of the Mt Eden clone) . Making such a draconian selection in a small-crop year isn't easy, but our goal of producing a wine truly expressive of the site & vintage means that sometimes you have to make such choices. Fermented in small bins, punched down by hand, & bottled without fining or filtration, this is wine is a true expression of a grape & place

The Lewis Vineyard is a small vineyard west of Windsor, in the Upper Reach portion of the Russian River Valley. The vineyard, owned by Rick & Pam Lewis, is a personal favorite as Rick & Pam are good friends in addition to being our grape growers

The Siduri Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir is part of our stable of Appellation wines — blends composed of selected barrels from the single vineyard properties that we often designate as our more expensive vineyard-designated wines. These Appellation Pinot Noirs all represent fantastic values in a somewhat expensive Pinot Noir marketplace. This is especially true in the case of the Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir, where great grapes come at a premium & finding outstanding reasonably priced Pinot Noir is sometimes difficult. We hope that our Santa Rita Pinot Noir fills this gap

The​ Parsons' Vineyard was a pleasant anomaly in 2011. The 2011 vintage was, quite simply, the coolest vintage we have ever experienced. In our North Coast vineyards it was also a vintage challenged by rain, w/ a significant event on October 3 & again on October 10th. The Parsons' Vineyard, however, fully ripened prior to these rains, & we picked all of the fruit there on September 24, 2012. This combination represents the best of both worlds (cool growing season & complete maturity) & has simply led to one of our favorite Pinot Noirs from the vintage

The 2011 vintage was one of the most remarkable in our history. In 18 years of making wine, we have never experienced a vintage that was so cool. The 2010 season was certainly as cool, except for a couple of distinct heat spikes, but 2011 even lacked those brief flirtations w/ summer, & consequently we picked at lower sugar levels than ever before (at least in the Russian River) . Fortunately, the cool growing season still allowed for physiological ripening in most vineyards, & this produced wines that are a unique combination of lower alcohols & fine structure.

The 2011 vintage was one of the most remarkable in our history. In 18 years of making wine, we have never experienced a vintage that was so cool. The 2010 season was certainly as cool, except for a couple of distinct heat spikes, but 2011 even lacked those brief flirtations w/ summer, & consequently we picked at lower sugar levels than ever before. Even more challenging, the Sonoma Coast survived two notable rain events, one occurring on October 3 & the other on October 10. We worked very closely w/ our growers during this period, thinning fruit in the vineyard & meticulously sorting fruit in the winery, all w/ the goal of making the finest Pinot Noir possible despite any challenges.

Thank Goodness that the 2011 vintage came along after we'd been making wine for 18 years! In many ways, 2011 was the most challenging vintage we have ever dealt with, particularly when it came to getting fruit ripe. We knew all along the vintage was going to be late. Bud break & flowering were both behind the normal schedule & veraison (the coloring up of the grapes) didn't even begin until September 10, 2011. To help accelerate maturity we thinned to crop, down to 1 cluster per shoot, in all of our vineyards. We also ended up being a bit more active in pulling leaves in the fruit zone, to open up the canopy & prevent the growth of botrytis in the fruit. And then we waited, & waited, & waited….ultimately waiting into November to pick some of the Pinot Noir (the first time we have ever picked Pinot Noir in November) .