Black Kite Cellars Kite's Rest Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2018 Red Wine

Black Kite Cellars Kite's Rest Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2018 

750 ml

93 pts. Wine Enthusiast:

"Lavish ripe fruit flavors meet delicious baking-spice accents in this broad, smooth and mouthfilling wine. It's easy to love for the strawberry, and red- and black-cherry notes and the cinnamon, vanilla and cedar shadings from oak aging".

93 pts. Wine Spectator:

"Refined and precise, with hints of red licorice to the sleek assembly of cherry, dried berry and currant flavors. Loamy midpalate, with a long, crisp finish of slate and spice."

This wonderful wine is a classically perfect example of top-notch Pinots of the Anderson Valley AVA. Stick your nose in the glass and you immediately identify the redwood forest influence of the Western end of the Anderson Valley. The winemaker (Jeff Gaffner, also of Saxon Brown Wines) did an extraordinary job capturing all the dark red fruit flavors of the Pinot Noir grape, without overwhelming the signature nuances of Anderson Valley-grown fruit. As with Gaffner's other Pinot Noirs, it's built to last - this wine is far from being "done!" - Wine Factor

FROM THE WINERY

GROWING CONDITIONS

Universally regarded as a stellar year, 2018 was the North Coast’s mildest growing season in almost 40 years. The cool spring gave us near perfect fruit set while moderate summer temperatures – without any significant heat spikes – allowed for slow, even ripening that promoted excellent flavor development while retaining natural acidity. The relaxed pace continued through harvest with no weather events forcing our picking decisions. The resulting 2018 wines are stunning, offering wonderful concentration, complexity, finesse and flavors reflecting their unique vineyard sites.

WINEMAKING AND COOPERAGE

The grapes were harvested in the early morning hours and transported immediately to the winery, where they were destemmed and cold soaked for 48 hours, inoculated with a low rate of Burgundian yeast, and punched down three times daily. After fermentation, the wine rested 17 months in a mix of new (1/3) and one-year old French oak barrels from the Allier, Vosges, Troncais and Bertranges forests.

TASTING NOTES

The most angular and youthful of our Anderson Valley Pinot Noirs, the 2018 Kite’s Rest Vineyard opens with lush floral and fresh picked red fruit aromatics. On the palate, the wine’s berry compote core gains depth and roundness with the emergence of secondary brown spice, cocoa powder and sweet oak notes that carry through the lifted, high-toned fruit finish.

HARVEST: October 1-3, 2018

BOTTLING: March 2020

PINOT NOIR CLONES: Dijon 114 and 115, Pommard

TITRATABLE ACIDITY: 0.63 g/L

PH: 3.48

ALCOHOL: 14.5%

CASES PRODUCED: 929