About a year ago, Uzi wrote about the “chore” of topping off. Back then we only had 2 half barrels in our home cellar and 4 barrels at the winery to worry about. This year we have 17 barrels at the winery to stir and top. While we still don’t see it as a chore, it is a bit more work. They are stacked two high in the back of the barrel room and special maneuvers are required to properly stir the lees and top off the barrel without overflowing. But it is still a great opportunity to smell and taste the wine and to, for lack of a better word, touch base with the wine…even while it is resting snugly in the barrel.
So earlier this week at the winery, we sniffed, stirred, topped and tasted all 17 barrels of our 2009 Pinot Noir. Pinot always seems to be evolving, from the moment of harvest all the way to the last drop in your glass. But at this point in time, we found that our Carneros Pinot has an incredible nose, our Russian River Pinot already has a luscious mouthfeel and luscious flavors and our Sonoma Coast has nice fruit forward character. Can’t wait to see what we discover next time…
in the barrel room
