2009 Haynes Vineyard Pinot Noir
Gold Medal — 2012 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
Tulocay has long been known for producing Burgundian-like
Pinot Noirs. Many take five or more years to reach maturity and
then continue to develop for another five or more. The primary
reason is the nature of Haynes Vineyard, which has been producing
noteworthy Pinots for many decades.
The second reason is the Tulocay Winery microflora. Today's mass
production wineries are as sterile as a milk factory. But Tulocay
is not that. We're small, we're funky, and we're a host to all
kinds of microflora that don't exist in larger, aseptically sterile
wine-producing facilities. Just like in Burgundy.
It's this atmosphere — coupled from the raw material from the
Haynes Vineyard — that makes, we feel, great and memorable Pinot
Noir.
Only 190 cases of this wine were bottled. Like all Tulocay Pinots,
it will start to show its true colors in another couple
of years, then age for at least a half-decade more.
— Skippy
The Haynes Vineyard
Tulocay has been harvesting fruit from the Haynes
Vineyard since 1975. A lot of folks (you'd recognize their names)
also make Pinot from this vineyard. The vineyard is located on
a south facing slope just about a mile down the road east from
the winery in a cool microclimate, also perfect for growing quality
Pinot.
|
“Hey Man,
I'm drinking wine, eating cheese and catching some rays.” — Actor Donald Sutherland
Maya: "You know,
can I ask you a personal question, Miles?"
Miles: "Sure."
Maya: "Why are you so into Pinot? I mean, it's like a thing with
you."
Miles: "Uh, I don't know, I don't know. Um, it's a hard
grape to grow, as you know. Right? It's uh, it's thin-skinned,
temperamental, ripens early. It's, you know, it's not a survivor
like Cabernet, which can just grow anywhere and uh, thrive even
when it's neglected. No, Pinot needs constant care and attention.
You know? And in fact it can only grow in these really specific,
little, tucked away corners of the world. And, and only the most
patient and nurturing of growers can do it, really. Only somebody
who really takes the time to understand Pinot's potential can then
coax it into its fullest expression. Then, I mean, oh its flavors,
they're just the most haunting and brilliant and thrilling and
subtle and... ancient on the planet."
— from
the movie Sideways,
written and directed by Alexander Payne
"If you
see in your wine the reflection of a person not in your range
of vision, don't drink it."
— Chinese Proverb
"Drink
wine, and you will sleep well. Sleep, and you will not sin. Avoid
sin, and you will be saved. Ergo, drink wine and be saved."
— Medieval German saying
"Of course
I don't always enjoy being a mother. At those times my husband
and I hole up somewhere in the wine country, eat, drink, make
mad love and pretend we were born sterile and raise poodles." — Dorothy
DeBolt
 |
