1998 PINOT NOIR PISONI

Santa Lucia Highlands

 

Gary Pisoni is a royal pain. He knows he has a good thing going, and he isn't shy about taking advantage of it. That a vegetable farmer, part of the "Monterey County Grower Mafia," can position himself at the top of the California pinot noir grape market is truly astounding, but one peek at his vineyard in late August is all it takes to know he has figured out how to grow great pinot noir.

Most growers of produce other than grapes have a terrible time with wine grapes. They are usually looking to produce the biggest, healthiest clusters on lush growing vines - which is the opposite of what we want for fine wine grapes. But Gary understands that tiny clusters on meager-growing vines are what it takes to make powerfully intense wines. He has a low-vigor vineyard site way up in the western hills of the Salinas Valley, he's got the right clone planted, and the farming is impeccable. While the price he charges for these grapes is outrageous, perfection has its price.

The 1998 crop came in at about 2.7 tons per acre, and it was very ripe. As early as December after the harvest, we could tell that we had something special. Dark, brooding and flavory, there was an intensity of character in this wine that one rarely finds in pinot noir. The wine developed very slowly in barrel. Our other pinot, the Bien Nacido, was the hands down favorite in barrel tastings through the summer and fall, but I knew there was a lot of power hiding in the structure of the Pisoni pinot. The wine was never racked until a few days before bottling in January, and we were able to avoid fining and filtration.

We shipped this wine down to our temperature-controlled warehouse in Ventura soon afterwards, and, although I get down there often, I kept forgetting to pick up samples to try it again. So it was not until mid June before I tasted the Pisoni pinot, after it had been in the bottle six months. Wow, what progress it has made! For the last several months in the barrel it had been aromatically quiet. Now it is revealing the flamboyant Pisoni raspberry character that is distinctive to this vineyard, and it possesses a wonderful richness on the palate. Though the wine definitely has the material for further development, it is really showing its stuff now.