2009 Pinot Gris "Naughty Little Hillsides"
	Quantity in Basket: none Code: PGNLH09 Price:$23.00 Shipping Weight: 3.50 pounds
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2009 PINOT GRIS, “NAUGHTY LITTLE HILLSIDES” Estate Grown – Sta. Rita Hills Winemaker’s Notes: I put up with these hillsides on our estate. Something always seems to be going wrong on at least one of them. From a farming perspective, they are like bucking broncos that don’t want to be ridden. But, while being thrown from the tractor does not feel good, one simple taste of the end product justifies why I continue to farm these two incorrigible little pieces of dirt. While our most crafted Estate Grown Chardonnay may be called Top Cream, these hillsides produce, by far, our vineyard’s creamiest wine. This year’s bottling is extraordinary. Off the bottling line today (1-28-09), it smells like a banana saltwater taffy with a hint of lime and vanilla drizzle. It definitely has the tapioca thing going on like last year, and I get just a whisper of an herb that strikes me as spearmint. The mouth is enormous; a super luxurious texture that finishes on the oily side. What can I say, when a wine sort of smells like the cream soda you used to drink when you were a kid, and on the palate, it’s all about the fat, then the word that it all boils down to is CREAMY. And with its long finish, it’s creamy for days. Maybe I just need to change my attitude; admit that these high maintenance hillsides are what they are. With a couple more wines like this one, I just might start looking forward to the problems. Technical Notes: VARIETAL COMPOSITION: 100 % Pinot Gris, Babcock Estate, Sta. Rita Hills VINIFICATION: Cool temperature/stainless steel primary fermentation, 100% Malolactic Fermentation. FINISHED WINE: pH: 3.59 TA: 5.8/L RESIDUAL SUGAR: Dry ALCOHOL By VOL: 13.8% BOTTLING DATE: January 2010 RELEASE DATE: March 1st, 2010 TOTAL PRODUCTION: 319 cases 12/750ml Click Here for an Adobe Reader PDF version of Bryan Babcock's vintage note on 2009 Pinot Gris "Naughty Little Hillsides".