Description
The CSWA Certified Sustainable Pinot Noir vineyard resides in the cool and windy enclave of the Arroyo Seco appellation of Monterey County. The property is planted to two early-ripening Dijon selections of Pinot Noir (clones 667 and 777), as well as late-ripening Pommard 4. The vines are grown on extremely well-drained, loamy sand and gravelly loam soils intermixed and underlain by large potato-sized cobblestones. The unique combination here of soil, climate, and advanced viticulture produces deeply colored Pinot Noir with elegantly refined structure and flavor. The 2022 vintage in the Arroyo Seco experienced a relatively dry winter and cool spring. During most of the summer, they enjoyed mild daytime highs, which proved ideal for berry flavor and phenolic development. However, in early September, a 10-day heatwave hit the Arroyo Seco, as well as much of California,hastening ripening. For this bottling, Clones 667 and 777 were hand-harvested on September 17th and 24th, respectively. The 2022 Fog’s Reach Pinot Noir underwent 8 months of aging on light lees - 35% of the blend in new French oak barrels and the remaining in 4th-fill French cooperage. This imparts subtle oak notes and viscosity on the palate while maintaining the refined fruit signature of this terroir-driven Pinot Noir.
J Lohr was founded in 1973 by the eponymous Jerry, who originally looked at the cool and windblown Monterrey coast. Fairly quickly building a successful business with the lovely terroir there in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, he expanded to Paso in a search for a place to grow truly great Cabernet. And, with no doubt - he found it. Founding the Hilltop Vineyard pretty quickly, they expanded rapidly off the back of the quality of Paso Robles fruit and the exceptional quality of the wines they were producing. Nowadays this is one of USA's favourite wineries - not requiring pretence or shouting to show how damn good it is. This is a Cellar's favourite across the board, with the Seven Oaks and the Riverstone proving firm favourites amongst our customers.