Mount Tamalpais 2005 Vin Gris

Vintage Notes:
The growing season in 2005 was quite different from many in recent memory. Sure, the winter was cold and wet and replenished our vines. But a warm “false spring” in March got the vines off to a very early start. Normally this would be fine, except that we had very late rains in both May & June when many of our vines were flowering which reduced the pollination of our grape flowers. As a result yields were driven lower than our already paltry levels. Another small “set” meant yield was very low, but vine health was very good with low disease pressure.

Vineyard Notes:
Our Vin Gris comes from two vineyards (seven and fifteen years old) located less than eight miles from the frigid Pacific Ocean in west Marin County. The vineyard terrain is characterized by gently rolling hills with moderately fertile soils composed of decomposed marine sedimentary (sandstone) and Haire loam. We emphasize “sustainable” viticulture, so hand-tilling, cover crops and lots of ladybugs are de rigeur. Our vines are heavily influenced by the Pacific Oceans considerable climatic prowess which results in harvest occurring 3-4 weeks after the better-known districts of Napa or Sonoma. Thankfully, our cool west Marin vineyard sites gives us naturally high acidity, a hallmark of the Old Worlds finest bright & racy dry rosés.

Winemaking Notes:
After hand harvesting, hand sorting, detsemming & crushing our individual lots of Marin Merlot and Pinot Noir, we immediately “bled off” part of the free run juice to make our deliciously dry “Vin Gris” rosé. This age-old technique also contributes a nice degree of richness to our Merlot and Pinot Noir. This fragrant, pink “free run” juice was immediately placed into a neutral stainless steel tank where it began a long, cool (65 F) fermentation using Champagnes Prise de Mousse cultured yeast. At dryness we racked the pink wine and chilled it to stop malolactic fermentation (ML), the natural process which transforms the acid structure and makes many Chardonnays taste like a butterball turkey. After all, we want a zippy dry rosé with bright acidity! As to barrel treatment, we consider our Vin Gris an “Oak-Free Zone” so it has never seen any oak. Lees stirring over the next five months contributed a nice texture and at bottling we added a dash of our racy dry Riesling to enhance aromatics. After a few months on the yeast lees we bottled 250 cases in April 2006 in a stelvin-sealed bottle which perfectly preserves its freshness (another first for Marin County). We think it is a superb summer sipper!

Technical Notes:

Appellation:	Marin County
Blend:	70% Free-Run Merlot, 22% Free Run Pinot Noir, 8% Riesling
Bottled:	April 2006
pH:	3.21
TA:	.67 g/100mL
RS:	Dry
Alcohol:	13.5%