The story isn’t unique. As a skilled winemaker learns more and more about his or her vineyards through relentless roving, adjusting and tasting, certain sites begin to stand out. For Joseph Phelps winemaker, Justin Ennis, an aha moment came in 2014, when one block in the estate’s Pastoral Vineyard over-performed and “begged” to be made separately, for its rich textures, depth and concentration.
The qualities the winemaker saw in these blocks warranted special treatment in 2018, to amplify their unique expressions of place—specifically, some whole-cluster fermentation, which involves a percentage of stems going into the tanks with the berries. Ennis explains why: “I like the overall structure with whole-cluster. In my opinion, using whole-cluster is a great way to bring extra depth, spice and savory characteristics to the wines.
—it’s from Jupiter. But that would be Block 225 in the estate’s Quarter Moon Vineyard, where each block is named for a planet. At first whiff, earth clings to cherry and berry fruit, echoed in savory forest notes, a touch of bay laurel, and hints of black tea. On the palate, a core of beautiful fruit—black cherry edged with red berry, even cranberry—is pulled in a savory direction with herbal notes, and a texture of pure silk belies power and complexity.isn’t from quite as far away as No.
The Phelps family were early believers in the far-west reaches of the Sonoma Coast, when they bought property in Freestone in 1999. Now, the wine-loving world has come around to seeing the potential of cool sites in general—and in very cool West Sonoma in particular—for some of California’s most exciting Pinot Noirs. And with these two, Phelps is delving even deeper into that potential. “We are focused on singular site and clone exploration with these Proem wines,” Ennis says.
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