2023 Pinot Noir - Damiani Vineyard
Spicy • Forest Floor • Density
Best enjoyed at 53° - 60°F
Suggested drink window: now - 2027 - 2034
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 of planting, 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
• 100% Damiani Vineyard
• Single Vineyard Series: Damiani Vineyard
• Soils: Lordstown channery silt loam
• Hand-harvested September 9th
• 15% saignée day after processing
• 12-day indigenous fermentation in bins followed by indigenous malolactic in barrel
• Aged 12 months in 228-liter neutral French oak barrels
• Unfined & unfiltered
• Vegan
• New York Sustainable Winegrowing
• Brix: 21.0° • pH: 3.60 • TA: 7.1 g/L • RS: 0.0% • ABV: 11.5% • Bottled: 8/12/2024
• Cases Produced: 90
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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.
2023 Vintage Notes
As the harvest season approached, and all things pointed to 2023 being a lovely year. In the vineyards, our team worked tirelessly to ensure the cellar got to play with the best grapes possible come harvest time. Summer of 2023 was drastically different from the several previous seasons with a decent amount of rainfall, hot and humid days, but unusually cool nighttime temperatures. This means we were able to maintain a strict disease management protocol with timely shoot thinning and positioning, aggressive leaf thinning, and our hybrid organic/conventional spray program.
Many have asked about the frost event in late May and how we fared. In the days following the event, we were very nervous as we saw many small shoots go from green to black. After a few weeks, the vines started to push their secondary shoots and subsequent clusters, and we started to see life back in the hard-hit blocks. We feel very fortunate as we saw a fairly normal season as far as yields went, but we know some of our neighbors did not fare as well. These moments help reinforce the strength of the agricultural community and how we as consumers and neighbors can all help one another during challenging times by buying local, supporting small businesses, and always keeping a positive attitude!
