Cherry • Mushroom • Plush
Best enjoyed at 53°–60°f
Suggested drink window: now–2027–2032+
The Damiani Vineyard is a truly unique site for us and the pinot noir from this site reflects its distinctiveness. Planted at just over one acre, this block is inner planted with a variety of different clones, a not-so-typical way ofplanting, which gives the final wine more nuance and individuality.
The block sits on a steep 15% slope on Lordstown channery silt loam soils, which is a unique series formed in glacial till and material derived from sandstone and siltstone on bedrock-controlled landforms of glaciated dissected plateaus by a process called cryoturbated. Also known as frost churning, where the soils consistently freeze and thaw, mixing different materials from various horizons of the soil down to bedrock.
Winemaking
• 100% Pinot Noir
• Estate grown
• Single Vineyard Series: Damiani Vineyard
• Vineyard locations: East side of Seneca Lake
• Soil: Lordstown channery silt loam
• Harvested September 24th
• Unfined & sterile filtered
• Vegan
• Certified New York Sustainable Winegrowing
• Brix: 23.0° │ pH: 3.74│ TA: 6.6 g/L │ RS: 0.1 │ ABV: 13.0
• Bottled: 8/7/2023
• Cases Produced: 3
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Single Vineyard Series
The Finger Lakes contains a mosaic of soil types, slope, aspect to the sun, and microclimate giving each vineyard its own identity. While this variety adds multiple dimensions to our wines, it also presents an opportunity for us to further celebrate the land in our Single Vineyard Series. We bottle the special flavors produced from one particular vineyard in years when the fruit is of intense quality and such distinctive character that it demands to stand alone as a pure expression of terroir.
Damiani Vineyard
Located just west of Lou and Sarah’s lovely cedar-sided artistic home, the Damiani Vineyard rolls passionate and untamed down the slope toward Seneca Lake. We are blessed that all our vineyards are in the Finger Lakes’ “banana belt”. The banana belt microclimate, encapsulated on the southeast slopes of Seneca Lake, is vaunted for its protective embrace. Defined by a combination of the depth of the lake (regulating surrounding air temperatures year-round), the pitch of the slope (holding and circulating those regulated air currents, keeping the vines and fruit caressed) and the combination of glacial till and lots of shale and allow for fabulous drainage, while adding complex and deep, luscious terroir to the mix.
With its rugged terrain and minimalist intervention, this vineyard has grown into the landscape as opposed to growing upon it.
2022 Vintage Notes
Throughout the growing season and in anticipation of the coming vintage, the cellar was met with mixed feelings. The winter months were not kind to our area - a bitterly cold winter damaged buds throughout all varieties and vineyards, resulting in a much smaller crop. But as the growing season progressed and flowers bloomed and shoots grew, the vintage quickly turned spectacular. Several factors contributed to the high-quality year - a temperate and dry growing season, which allowed for moderate but not vigorous canopy growth, little to no disease pressure, and consistent small berry size, as well as some positive factors from winter damage like smaller berry and cluster size due to secondary buds pushing over primary and more nutrients and available water per cluster than higher-cropped years.
Our harvest season started off as it always does – with bubbles! Due to such a short supply of pinot noir, we decided to turn our typical Brut sparkling wine into a Blanc de Blanc instead, made of 100% chardonnay. We made Damiani history in 2022 by having our earliest ever pick – August 30th!
Labor Day brought the first real rain we had seen since early summer, much to our chagrin. But fortunately, the rains stopped and didn’t really show up after that. As a winemaker, you’re faced with the sometimes very difficult decision of when to pick your grapes. You’re looking at the radar 15 million times a day, walking each vineyard and block, tasting the fruit, and ultimately deciding to either way – roll the dice. As the weeks progressed, we started to see a decline in maturity across all varieties. While things were lagging in sugar accumulation, the sun was shining and canopies were holding on, so flavors and phenolics were still ripening.
Across the board, every variety and vineyard that came into the cellar looked, smelled, and tasted wonderfully. Following the difficulties of the 2021 vintage, we were very excited to utilize some of my favorite winemaking techniques like whole cluster fermentations, wild yeast fermentations, foot stomping, cold soaking, saignée, minimal sulfur at juice stage, barrel fermented whites, and whole cluster pressing.
The resulting wines from the 2022 season are going to be strong, concentrated, acid-driven, and voluminous. Although the quantities are quite low, we are very proud of what we made and cannot wait to share it with you all!
