The fruit is entirely from the highly regarded Bien Nacido Vineyard. The grapes were hand harvested and the Pinot Noir fermented in 5 ton open-top fermenters, which are punched down once or twice a day. These punch downs breakup the cap of skins that rises to the surface back into the juice so the fermentation process extracts the best part of the Pinot grapes. The wine is pressed to complete dryness then transferred to barrel with moderate lees. Our “La Bauge” Pinot Noir is aged in 50% new French oak barrels made by the cooper François Frères. The wine was carefully racked in the spring and then put backed to barrel. Total barrel aging was 20 months.
La Bauge Au-dessus translates as a “wild party upstairs”. Our original bottlings were from the hillsides of Bien Nacido Vineyard and we have returned to that format this vintage. The intent of the wine is to create a classic Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir with great aromatics and character showing cherry/cranberry fruit, rose petal, earth and spice. The key word is balance. A balance of oak and fruit, a balance of tannin and acid, and a balance elegance and intensity. This delicious Pinot Noir does not compete with food but maximizes the dining experience by complimenting whatever it is paired with.
