Presqu'ile Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir 2010
Presqu'ile Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir 2010
This Presqu’ile Vineyard Pinot Noir is the first 100% estate grown wine.
It was aged seventeen months in French oak barrels, 35% new.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1407960
https://www.presquilewine.com/
For Friday night casual dining we opened this Central California Coast Pinot Noir from Presqu’ile Vineyard, grown in the Santa Maria Valley, a narrow
ribbon of land between the Pacific Ocean
and the San Rafael mountains, an area known for producing elegant
Pinot Noir.
The Presqu’ile Vineyard 200-acre
property was developed in 2007 by founder/producer Matt Murphy and his parents, Madison and Suzanne after an extensive search up and down the West Coast searching for an ideal property to produce Burgundian varietal wines, before selecting the property in the Santa Maria Valley.
The Murphys teamed with Santa Barbara County Vineyard Manager Jim
Stollberg and Winemaker Dieter Cronje to develop the Presqu’ile Vineyard estate. They mapped the site's deep sandy soils, distinct
airflows, patterns of sunlight, hillside angles and elevations. With the
insights derived from these measurements, they planted the vineyard to
maximize the diversity of row directions, spacing, clones and
rootstocks. They added an additional adjacent 11-acre parcel of Pinot Noir vines planted in 2001. The resulting Presqu’ile Vineyard consists of 73 total acres of vines; 32 acres of Pinot Noir, 17 acres of Chardonnay, 16 acres
of Sauvignon Blanc, 6.5 acres of Syrah,
and 1.25 acres of Nebbiolo.
The site is located in the Santa Maria Valley
American Viticultural Area (AVA), established in 1981, making it the
second oldest AVA in California after Napa Valley. It is also one of the
world’s most unique AVAs which, along with the nearby Sta. Rita Hills, lies in and benefits from the only two transverse mountain ranges
on the entire West Coast of North and South America.
Framed between the
San Rafael Mountains to the north, and the Solomon Hills to the south,
this geographic feature creates a natural funnel, drawing in cool marine
air from the Pacific. The ocean temperatures just off the coast of Santa Maria
are typically only about 55˚ to 59˚ F, further cooling the ocean
breezes funneled into the valley. The resulting average temperature at just 64˚ F, creates a cool-climate viticultural
region with one of the longest winegrowing seasons in California
(125 days on average).
Matt grew up
in Arkansas in a family that for four generations had been growing corn, soy and rice. He often spent harvest season working the
family’s farm in neighboring Louisiana. The family were also wine lovers and he
was exposed to fine wine at a relatively early age, including many of
the great wines of Burgundy.
While studying biology at the University
of Colorado at Boulder, Matt followed his appreciation of fine
wine and worked a summer at Signorello
Estate in Napa Valley where he found a love for working
in the vineyard and learning the craft of making wine. Our visit and tasting at Signorello was one of the highlights of our Napa Valley Wine Experience back in 2013.
After university, Matt headed west, and took a position in the cellar at Santa Maria Valley’s Ambullneo Winery where he became good friends with Ambullneo’s talented assistant winemaker, Dieter Cronje. The two teamed up to pursue their shared philosophies about winegrowing and winemaking, and the potential of the Santa Maria Valley to make cool-climate wines.
After university, Matt headed west, and took a position in the cellar at Santa Maria Valley’s Ambullneo Winery where he became good friends with Ambullneo’s talented assistant winemaker, Dieter Cronje. The two teamed up to pursue their shared philosophies about winegrowing and winemaking, and the potential of the Santa Maria Valley to make cool-climate wines.
Presqu'ile Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir 2010
This Presqu’ile Vineyard Pinot Noir is the first 100% estate grown wine. It was aged seventeen months in French oak barrels, 35% new.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1407960
https://www.presquilewine.com/
