2015 Wayfarer Pinot Noir
The Traveler

Tasting Notes

The Traveler Pinot Noir is the celebration of a single “suitcase clone,” and pays homage to the legendary journey of an original vine cutting from Burgundy’s most revered vineyard. Our 2015 vintage has deep ruby color. Aromas of black cherry, perfectly ripened strawberry and violets are accented by savory herbal touches. The aromas carry over onto a deep palate, where dark, focused fruit is balanced by bright acidity and supported by soft, fine tannins. This wine is graceful and easy to drink. It will continue to reveal its complexity after five to seven years in bottle and will age beautifully for another ten years beyond.

Winemaking Notes

We hand-picked and hand-sorted the fruit, reserving 22% for whole-cluster fermentation prior to de-stemming. Five to seven days of cold maceration preceded more than two weeks of 100% native yeast fermentation. The fruit was then gently pressed, its free-run juice transferred to 40% new French oak barrels for 15 months of aging.

Vintage Notes

We farm each of the 30 blocks of our Wayfarer Vineyard individually to tailor the shoot positioning and leafing vine by vine, and clone by clone. Such fine-tuned farming is critical to success on the extreme Sonoma Coast, with its varying elevations and exposures – east facing, west facing, north side, and south side. By the end of the growing season we have typically visited each vine a dozen times.

This meticulous attention pays off in vintages like 2015, when we experienced our third consecutive year of draught conditions. Unseasonably warm weather in February and March gave us budbreak eight days earlier than average, and we were lucky not to have experienced any frost. Sunny days in April led into a cool, cloudy May, which extended bloom period and reduced the number of berries in each cluster. Summer turned warm, for optimum ripening, and when a heat wave hit in mid-August all our vines came through in fine form.

Blocks Map

Clones

Wayfarer