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Wine Description
The Story
At 2360 feet of elevation, Skyline Vineyard is one of the highest Pinot Noir vineyards in California. This extreme altitude helps cool the vineyard while providing the constant sunshine that is found above the fog. The rocky soils are extremely shallow and make the vines work hard throughout the season. In order to produce a viable crop, the vines are very tightly spaced with Pinot Noir at 2'x3' and Syrah at 4'x3'. We think that Skyline is the most closely spaced Pinot Noir vineyard in California. Its 12 clones are planted in selection massale (mixed together) at a density of almost 7000 vines per acre.
Skyline's extremely rocky and diverse soils produce one of the most mineral-driven and exotic wines in the New World. While the wines can be approached on release, we recommend a few years of cellaring to allow the fantastic and unusual Moroccan spice and pepper character to become fully expressive.
Vintage 2009
Napa 2009 Vintage Report “We consider the vintage 2009 was the start of a three year cooling cycle (2009, 2010, 2011) that ended with the 2012 vintage. If We look at the big picture of the decade We see warming each year from 2006, 2007 and then 2008. 2009 then started a cooling cycle where the vintages were progressively cooler and wetter. Out of these vintages the 2011 was the coolest and wettest. We are pleased to see the vintage 2012 is breaking this cycle.”
