2022 Swan Clone Pinot Noir

This wine hails from Whitehall Lane’s newest property, the Sonoma Stage Vineyard on the southeastern edge of the Petaluma Gap Appellation in Sonoma County. It is home to 12 small blocks of world-class Pinot Noir grapes, and the Swan Clone makes up four of these vineyard blocks. The Swan Clone is originally determined to be sourced from Mount Eden Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains, which came from a vineyard planted in 1895.  Before 1895, it was brought straight from Burgundy.   Over time, the clone was eventually isolated and named by Francis Mahoney.

Upon hand harvesting in the early morning hours, our grapes were carefully destemmed and sent to tank for a whole-berry fermentation. The grapes were cold-soaked in tank at 45˚F for 4-7 days, allowing for increased color, aroma and flavor extraction. After inoculation with a select yeast, the grape must (juice, skins and seeds) fermented at 82˚F, which allowed for a hot extraction on the skins. For fermentation cap management, the juice was pumped over the skins two times per day, wetting the cap evenly for a nice healthy fermentation. This was aged in French oak barrels (35% new) for 14 months and was bottled unfined and unfiltered.

The 2022 vintage was considered a recovery year for the drought year in 2021, which typically prove to be excellent quality for wines. The season started off with bud break in early March, leading to a Spring that allowed for a turbulent flowering period that gave high winds, hail, rain and a cold snap. The vines, as a result, provided a low yielding set for the grape clusters. Summer was quite warm and long, leading into an early Autumn harvest season. The consistent summer weather encouraged our Pinot Noir Swan clone grapes to ripen in mid to late September.