Eternal Returns 2022

22 year old Pinot planted in the Summit region of the Santa Cruz Mountains at 1700-1800ft by Gerhard Schlecht as a retirement project. At the end of 2019, I took over management when Gerhard could no longer keep up with the vines. Organic and no tilling. No tractor. Everything done by hand. Less intensely affected by the drought this season than the vines were in 2021. We had a good fog season in 2022 relieving the vines from the heat and dryness. A steady growing season. We had some powdery mildew outbreaks in a few sections dropping our yields and a small heatspell in early August that ushered the grapes to maturity. We pick slowly, sorting out any damaged clusters and end our picks with a luxurious picnic and maybe a dip in the pool before shuttling the grapes back to the winery.

Destemmed. Two pump overs a day for about a week. In barrel for a year. This cuvee is made of primarily press wine. The free run goes into the cuvee called Rituals on Repeat to be released at a later date.

Very serious Pinot fruit packed into the palate. It gushes over your tongue and seems to just keep flowing across even though you stopped sipping a minute ago. The aromatics are slightly quiet on opening, but after some air…  Lucky imbibers stop their conversations and say ‘damn’, sniff again, and knowing smiles sneak up from the ends of mouths. It feels like a wine that is going to impress some natural wine haters and California skeptics as it ages.

It feels good to be making Pinot that I’m really proud of from this vineyard now.

combined orders of 3, 6, or 12 bottles please.

orders begin shipping again on December 3rd