Black Kite Cellars Kite's Rest Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2019 Red Wine

Black Kite Cellars Kite's Rest Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2019

750 ml

91 pts. Wine Spectator:

"A ripe and showy style, with an exotic tilt to the blackberry and boysenberry compote notes, which are infused liberally with anise, singed apple wood and briar. Shows a singed wood spice accent on the finish, which has good underlying energy for balance."

This wonderful wine is a classically perfect example of top-notch Pinots of the Anderson Valley AVA. Stick your nose in the glass and you immediately identify the redwood forest influence of the Western end of the Anderson Valley. The winemaker (Jeff Gaffner, also of Saxon Brown Wines) did an extraordinary job capturing all the dark red fruit flavors of the Pinot Noir grape, without overwhelming the signature nuances of Anderson Valley-grown fruit. As with Gaffner's other Pinot Noirs, it's built to last - this wine is far from being "done!" - Wine Factor

FROM THE WINERY

HARVEST: October 2019

BOTTLING: March 2021

RELEASE: August 2021

GROWING CONDITIONS

Described by many as a “classic Northern California vintage”, the 2019 growing season kicked off with late winter rains that ushered in a cooler than average spring, followed by a long, moderate summer free of any challenging heat spikes. Late summer warmth, followed by a cooling period at picking time set the stage for a relaxed harvest and fully developed fruit at low sugars. All in all, the vintage’s ideal growing conditions and smaller cluster and berry sizes gave us wines – both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay – showing tremendous depth of flavor, buoyant acidity and exquisite balance.

WINEMAKING AND COOPERAGE

The grapes were harvested in the early morning hours and transported immediately to the winery, where they were destemmed and cold soaked for 48 hours, inoculated with a low rate of Burgundian yeast, and punched down three times daily. After fermentation, the wine rested 17 months in a mix of new (1/3) and one-year old French oak barrels from the Allier, Vosges, Troncais and Bertranges forests.

TASTING NOTES

Our 2019 Kite’s Rest Vineyard Pinot Noir is the kind of wine you grab a thesaurus to describe, because calling it pretty just isn’t enough. A blend of the vineyard’s three distinct blocks, it opens with a heady perfume of violet and rose potpourri that gives way to more pronounced notes of Bing cherry, plum and sweet vanilla oak with just a hint of clove and cedar. The bright, lifted palate is at once elegant and weighty, with focused acids and polished tannins providing a compelling tension throughout the long, nuanced finish.

CASES PRODUCED 1,072

ACIDITY TITRATABLE ACIDITY 0.61 g/L

ALCOHOL 14.5%

PINOT NOIR CLONES: DIJON 114 AND 115 POMMARD

PH 3.43