Gold Medals
- Orange County Fair
- S.F. Int'l Wine Competition
- Tasters Guild Competition
- Best in Glass Wine Challenge
- National Orange Show-Pacific Rim
As we develop deeper relationships with high quality producers on California who are turning out great wines at great prices, certain wineries jump out as consistently delivering incredible value across a range of wines. One of these is certainly Schug Estate, where Walter Schug and Michael Cox continue to turn out stellar wines across a range of prices. We have offered multiple vintages of their reserve wines, which are deep, complex wines (at a correspondingly higher price). Today instead we are offering Schug's Carneros Pinot Noir, which is sourced from chardonnay blocks on their own estate, as well of from nearby quality growers like the Sangiacomo and Iund. The result is a wonderfully vibrant, and layered Pinot Noir priced for everyday drinking. A perfect wine to buy a case of and enjoy over the coming holidays!
The 2008 vintage was a little unusual in California, in that it began with two rather hard frosts in the spring, which reduced the crop substantially. The advantage of this reduction in crop is that the fruit that remains tends to be more concentrated and flavorful. The summer was fairly average, but heat spikes in the fall caused problems for producers that were looking for extra hang-time. However, for wineries like Schug, this was no problem as they tend to pick earlier anyway, preferring an elegant, refined style.
The 2008 Schug Carneros Pinot Noir is a wonderfully alluring pale garnet color. The nose shows classic Pinot aromas of black cherry, cranberry and briar, along with surprising notes of kirsch and vanilla. The palate shows more red fruit, joined by an underlying earthy character distinct to Carneros. The wine finishes clean in texture, but with intriguingly rustic flavors of graphite and damp earth. A beautifully balanced wine that is showing no signs of premature aging at 5 years, this will pair wonderfully with a wide range of foods, and should keep in the cellar for several years to come.
VINEYARDS: 30% Iund; 27% Sangiacomo; 16% Ricci; 8% Schug Estate; 6% Vineburg; 6% Cornerstones; 4% Brown; 3% Parmalee-Hill
APPELLATION: Carneros
HARVEST DATES: September 1st through September 29th, 2008
SUGAR AT HARVEST: 24.4 degrees Brix, average
FERMENTATION: 6 to 8 days in stainless steel punch-down and rotary fermenters, with cap immersion 3 times daily AGING / COOPERAGE: 2 months in 800 gallon oak casks (during malo-lactic fermentation) 9 months in 60 gallon French oak, medium toast barrels (30% new)
ALCOHOL: 14.0% by volume
ACIDITY: TA = 0.59g/100ml; pH = 3.56
PRODUCTION: 7,808 cases (12 x 750ml); 1,186 cases (12 x 375ml); 40 cases (6 x 1.5-Liter); 32 x 3-Liter bottles; 6 x 5-Liter bottles
RELEASE DATE: April 1st, 2010
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