Birichino Pinot Noir 'Saint Georges' 2021
Regular price $90.00
Unit price per
- TASTING NOTE: This is a delicious wine, offering up waves of succulent red fruit, sappy brightness and underbrush to go with its juicy, supple and balanced palate.
- ABOUT THE WINE: The Saint Georges Pinot Noir hails primarily from the very old Besson Vineyard, established in the early 1900s at the southern reach of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The site is marginally too low and on the wrong side of the road to be officially included in the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA. Instead, the wine is labelled in homage to George Besson, with whom Birichino has worked for over 20 years. The vineyard is managed organically to make the most of the rich granitic and sandy loams. The 45-year-old Pinot Noir vines contribute 85% of the fruit for this wine, with the remaining 15% sourced from the Enz, Antle and Boer vineyards (the latter two in Chalone at high elevation on limestone and granite soils). It was fermented with around 30% of the stems added back and aged in old barriques and demi-muids. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.
- ABOUT THE PRODUCER: Drawing on a combined four decades of experience making wine in California, France and Italy, John Locke and Alex Krause founded Birichino in Santa Cruz in 2008. They met in the early 90's while working at revolutionary standard bearer, Bonny Doon. Randall Grahm’s quixotic nature facilitated a creative and slightly chaotic realm in which John and Alex were challenged to “engage and stimulate as many sensory receptors as possible” through their wines, an ethos they have carried through to their own estate today. While Alex and John don’t own any of their own sites they do work with some of California’s best old vine vineyards, as far back as 1866 in some cases. Fruit is sourced from the southern reaches of Santa Barbera all the way up to the Napa Valley – making Birichino’s harvest particularly hectic. When it comes to making wine, the preference is for as little interaction as possible, the ideology being that when it comes to the cellar, processes reveal rather than create flavour. They are preoccupied with safeguarding the expression of the hallowed sites they work with and because of that employ; wild ferments in stainless steel or neutral wood, no cold soaks, light and infrequent punch-downs, minimal racking and fining, avoiding filtration at all costs and only light use of sulphur. They make wine according to a three-pronged precept; they must not be boring, they must be impeccably clean and they must not fatigue the drinker.
- COUNTRY: USA
- REGION: Central Coast, California
- VARIETAL: Chardonnay
- WINE STYLE: Pinot Noir
- WINEMAKER: John Locke & Alex Krause
- CLASSIFICATION: Minimal Intervention, Organic Farming, Vegan
- CLOSURE: Cork
- ABV%: 13.5%
- SIZE: 750ml
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FAQ
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