The Vineyard
Named for its location next to the Dayton watershed, this 4.25 acre block is all Pommard clone planted on its own roots in 1977 at 6'x 10' spacing. At 400’ elevation this is the highest Pinot Noir block of the Sokol Blosser estate vineyards. The section slopes east and south and is comprised of Jory soil, the distinctively red clay loam of the Red Hills of Dundee.

The Blend
All the fruit from the Watershed block was harvested and vinified together. During aging repeated tasting monitored the evolution of the wine in the many different barrels and the final blend included only eight specifically selected barrels from the total of twenty-seven.

The Winemaking
The grapes were de-stemmed without crushing, preserving as many whole berries as possible. They were given two days of pre-fermentation maceration in small (~one-ton) fermenters, then punched down gently three times per day during an eight day fermentation. Finally, the wine was given a very long (twenty-one day) post-fermentation maceration.

The long post-fermentation maceration is an extremely important component of our winemaking. As the newly fermented wine rests in contact with the skins it extracts color, complexity and tannins. The tannins initially are “short-chain” molecules: hard, green, bitter and aggressive – not what any winemaker wants. The wine tends to get more and more harsh and bitter for the first two to three weeks. If we were to remove the wine from the skins at that point we would be creating a wine with very coarse, harsh tannins which could take many years to (or may never) soften, or require heavy fining. However, if the wine is left for about three weeks, at a certain point the short-chain tannins polymerize (chemically bond) to form long-chain tannins, which are soft, supple and silky. Every fermenter is slightly different.  In some the change occurs at nineteen days.  In others it may take twenty four days. But in each case it is done by taste and when the transformation has taken place it is time to press. Now the wine has gained tremendous complexity, more stable color, and a beautiful soft, silky texture that makes it accessible (and pleasurable) when young, yet it still has the tannin structure for long-term ageability.

After pressing, the wine went very quickly to barrels where it underwent a very long, slow malolactic fermentation. The barrels, 61% of which were new, were all fine-grain French oak from a number of different French cooperages.

The Wine

The wine from this block has the most firm, focused structure and backbone of the three single-block designate wines we produce. Elegant and restrained when young, it has a beautiful texture and the kind of “grip” which indicates exceptional long-term aging potential.

203 cases produced