2011 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir - Lambda

Soil. Vines. Wines.  This is the order in which great wine is made.  Ampelos is the Greek word for vine.  The  Greek symbol Lambda: “the magnitude” is used mathematically  as a cosmological constant - big number.  This wine reveals the magnitude of our vineyard.    

The relationship we cultivate with our land is paramount in producing hand crafted, minimally invasive wines that both whisper and shout about the terroir from which they are grown.  Our Ampelos Vineyard in Sta. Rita Hills is the first in the US to be certified sustainable, organic and biodynamic.  Our commitment to natural farming and winemaking is evident in every sip.

Wine Making Style:

• After we harvested the fruit, it will stay 1 day in our cold room to avoid using dry ice
• The fruit is cold soaked for about 3 days and then the natural wild yeast will kick in for the primary fermentation
• We hand punch down twice a day to assist the extraction of colors, tannins and flavors
• When it has completed primary fermentation, we may elect to continue with extended maceration which allows more extraction of colors and flavors
• After completed primary fermentation we let the fermenters continue with extended maceration up to one month
• We separated the free run, press off the rest and barrel down the individual batches
• Then the second fermentation (converts malolatic acid to lactic acid) kicks in utilizing the natural wild malolactic bacteria 
• The wine is barrel aged for about 30 months in 1/3 new French oak
• The wine is unfined and unfiltered.