2017 Cortada Alta Vineyard Pinot Noir

Our second vintage of John Peterson's Cortada Alta Vineyard Pinot Noir is exactly what we expect from this high altitude site in the Santa Lucia Highlands.  2017 was looking like it was going to be a classic California Pinot vintage with plenty of rain in the winter, followed by perfect spring and summer weather.  The crop sat abundantly in the vineyard.  We were hit with two major heat waves at the end of August and beginning of September, with the one over Labor Day Weekend being a record breaker at 111 degrees.  With this extreme weather, a lot of the crop that wasn't shaded by leaves didn't make it and shriveled on the vines.  The shaded clusters weren't ready to harvest yet, and ripened perfectly for another month, until the first week of October. 

 

The 2017 August West Cortada Alta Vineyard Pinot Noir shows off the potential of this 40 acre vineyard, with fully ripe flavors and an irresistible texture.  The color is the darkest Pinot ever produced by August West.  The nose is a combination of berry fruit with hints of wild mountain herbs.  There's a mouth-filling presence on the palate balanced by bright acidity and framed by fine tannins.  A long finish predicts this wine should last well into the mid 2020s.
 

Wine Profile

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