La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

Description

La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir is made from vineyards near the Pacific Coast and San Pablo Bay, here there is an unusually long growing season, lingering fog and coastal wines moderate the temperatures producing small, ripe berries with good acidity and concentrate aromas and flavours. La Crema specialise in cool climate wines and only make Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Founded over 30 years ago, La Crema began life at their Russian River Valley estate. Over the years, however, they have specialised in sourcing grapes from California’s cool coastal regions including Russian River Valley, Los Carneros, Anderson Valley, Sonoma Coast and Monterey. To this one can now add their exciting new project in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Head Winemaker, Craig McAllister, employs a combination of traditional Burgundian wine making techniques and modern Californian style.

Pinot Noir grapes are destemmed and then undergo a period of cold maceration for 3 days, this helps to capture aromatic and extract colour. Fermentation is in small, open top fermenters and the cap is punched down three times a day. After fermentation the wine is gently pressed off the skins using a basket press. La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir is aged for 9 months in oak barrels (98% French oak, 2% American oak, 20% new). Different lots of Pinot Noir, from different sites, are kept separate and are finally blended prior to bottling.