The 2022 season began with ideal weather conditions and abundant rains. An early bud break culminated in a vintage that began nearly 4 weeks earlier than normal, with Ruxton Vineyard picked on August 12 (usually these grapes arrive later in early September). The predictable Labor Day heat spike packed a punch with temperatures exceeding 110°F and a late-September rain kept us on our toes.

The fruit is hand sorted prior to destemming then gravity fed into small open top fermenters where the must is then cold-soaked for 5 days in order to gently extract spice and fruit characters, while mitigating harsher tannins. We punch down up to 3 times daily, depending on the stage of the fermentation and the nature of the vineyard. Each vineyard block is fermented separately in order to maintain typicity, and to provide us with the most flexibility for blending. Our Pinots generally spend 14 to 20 days on the skins, according to the need of each fermentation. After fermentation, the individual lots are pressed and then racked into French oak barrels to age. We carefully blend our favorite lots in early spring. The final blend rests in barrel six months, marrying flavors and gaining complexity, until we bottle in August with minimal processing.

WINEMAKING: Open top fermentation, cold soak, punch down. BARREL AGING: 10 months in French oak (40% new barrels)

Dutton Ranch farms over eighty unique vineyards located in the coolest areas of the Russian River Valley, primarily in the Green Valley sub-appellation. The Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir blend represents our vision for the character of this special region: juicy berry fruit in both the nose and the mouth, solid structure with fine tannins, and alluring balance. Bush, Galante, Emerald Ridge, Goff, and Jentoft are all in the heart of Green Valley, and each contributes a unique variation of Green Valley fruit to heighten the complexity of the blend. Ruxton is high on Stoetz Ridge on the western edge of the Russian River Valley and brings great color and focus to the mix. All of these vineyards are Sonoma County Certified Sustainable.

Alcohol:  13.5%
Ta: 6.4 g/L
pH: 3.50

The mild 2021 season gave us a measured, moderate year and harvest, letting us bring in the fruit exactly when we wanted. Due to the dry year, ripening came on the early side, with our Ruxton vineyard beginning things on August 27, and the last vineyards in this blend from Goff and Galante coming in September 8.

The fruit is hand sorted prior to destemming then gravity fed into small open top fermenters where the must is then cold-soaked for 5 days in order to gently extract spice and fruit characters, while mitigating harsher tannins. We punch down up to 3 times daily, depending on the stage of the fermentation and the nature of the vineyard. Each vineyard block is fermented separately in order to maintain typicity, and to provide us with the most flexibility for blending. Our Pinots generally spend 14 to 20 days on the skins, according to the need of each fermentation. After fermentation, the individual lots are pressed and then racked into French oak barrels to age. We carefully blend our favorite lots in early spring. The final blend rests in barrel six months, marrying flavors and gaining complexity, until we bottle in August with minimal processing.

WINEMAKING: Open top fermentation, cold soak, punch down. BARREL AGING: 10 months in French oak (40% new barrels)

Dutton Ranch farms over eighty unique vineyards located in the coolest areas of the Russian River Valley, primarily in the Green Valley sub-appellation. The Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir blend represents our vision for the character of this special region: juicy berry fruit in both the nose and the mouth, solid structure with fine tannins, and alluring balance. Bush, Galante, Emerald Ridge, Goff, and Jentoft are all in the heart of Green Valley, and each contributes a unique variation of Green Valley fruit to heighten the complexity of the blend. Ruxton is high on Stoetz Ridge on the western edge of the Russian River Valley and brings great color and focus to the mix. All of these vineyards are Sonoma County Certified Sustainable.

Alcohol:  13.5%
Ta: 6.3 g/L
pH: 3.58

With a long, cool season like 2019, we were able to ripen our pinot evenly and gently, allowing us the luxury of zeroing in on our perfect picking date. We harvested our first vineyards for this blend on September 10, and our last on October 1.

The fruit is hand sorted prior to destemming then gravity fed into small open top fermenters where the must is then cold-soaked for 5 days in order to gently extract spice and fruit characters while mitigating harsher tannins. We punch down up to 3 times daily, depending on the stage of the fermentation and the nature of the vineyard. Each vineyard block is fermented separately in order to maintain typicity and to provide us with the most flexibility for blending. Our Pinots generally spend 14 to 20 days on the skins, according to the need of each fermentation. After fermentation, the individual lots are pressed and then racked into French oak barrels to age. We carefully blend our favorite lots in early spring. The final blend rests in barrel six months, marrying flavors and gaining complexity, until we bottle in August with minimal processing.

Dutton Ranch farms over eighty unique vineyards located in the coolest areas of the Russian River Valley, primarily in the Green Valley sub-appellation. The Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir blend represents our vision for the character of this special region: juicy berry fruit in both the nose and the mouth, solid structure with fine tannins, and alluring balance. Bush, Campbell, Galante, Emerald Ridge, Silva, Hallberg, and Jentoft are all in the heart of Green Valley, and each contributes a unique variation of Green Valley fruit to heighten the complexity of the blend. Morelli Lane and Ruxton are high on Stoetz Ridge on the western edge of the Russian River Valley and offer a bit of warmer cherry fruit to the mix. Freestone is in the far southwestern corner of the appellation, and contributes its killer depth and spice to the base notes of the blend. All of these vineyards are Sonoma County Certified Sustainable.

Alcohol:  13.5% Ta: 6.0 g/L pH: 3.5 Barrel Aging:  10 months in French oak (40% new barrels) Winemaker:  Dan Goldfield

The fruit is hand sorted prior to destemming then gravity fed into small open top fermenters where the must is then cold-soaked for 5 days in order to gently extract spice and fruit characters, while mitigating harsher tannins. We punch down up to 3 times daily, depending on the stage of the fermentation and the nature of the vineyard. Each vineyard block is fermented separately in order to maintain typicity, and to provide us with the most flexibility for blending. Our Pinots generally spend 14 to 20 days on the skins, according to the need of each fermentation. After fermentation, the individual lots are pressed and then racked into French oak barrels to age. We carefully blend our favorite lots in early spring. The final blend rests in barrel six months, marrying flavors and gaining complexity, until we bottle in August with minimal processing.

Dutton Ranch farms over eighty unique vineyards located in the coolest areas of the Russian River Valley, primarily in the Green Valley sub-appellation. The Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir blend represents our vision for the character of this special region: juicy berry fruit in both the nose and the mouth, solid structure with fine tannins, and alluring balance. Bush, Campbell, Galante, Emerald Ridge, Silva, Hallberg, and Jentoft are all in the heart of Green Valley, and each contributes a unique variation of Green Valley fruit to heighten the complexity of the blend. Morelli Lane and Ruxton are high on Stoetz Ridge on the western edge of the Russian River Valley and offer a bit of warmer cherry fruit to the mix. Freestone is in the far southwestern corner of the appellation, and contributes its killer depth and spice to the base notes of the blend. All of these vineyards are Sonoma County Certified Sustainable.

Alcohol:  13.5% Ta: 5.9 g/L pH: 3.55 Barrel Aging:  10 months in French oak (40% new barrels) Winemaker:  Dan Goldfield

The winter rains and mild summer weather made for beautiful canopies on our pinot vineyards in 2017, helping protect the grapes from the Labor Day weekend heat spike. Two of the core vineyards in the blend were picked in late August, the majority of the remainder came in the following week, with the last few harvested by the end of September.

The fruit is hand sorted prior to destemming then gravity fed into small open top fermenters where the must is then cold-soaked for 5 days in order to gently extract spice and fruit characters, while mitigating harsher tannins. We punch down up to 3 times daily, depending on the stage of the fermentation and the nature of the vineyard. Each vineyard block is fermented separately in order to maintain typicity, and to provide us with the most flexibility for blending. Our Pinots generally spend 14 to 20 days on the skins, according to the need of each fermentation. After fermentation, the individual lots are pressed and then racked into French oak barrels to age. We carefully blend our favorite lots in early spring. The final blend rests in barrel six months, marrying flavors and gaining complexity, until we bottle in August with minimal processing.

Dutton Ranch farms over eighty unique vineyards located in the coolest areas of the Russian River Valley, primarily in the Green Valley sub-appellation. The Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir blend represents our vision for the character of this special region: juicy berry fruit in both the nose and the mouth, solid structure with fine tannins, and alluring balance. Bush, Campbell, Galante, Emerald Ridge, Silva, Hallberg, Goff, Widdoes, and Jentoft are all in the heart of Green Valley, and each contributes a unique variation of Green Valley fruit to heighten the complexity of the blend. Morelli Lane and Ruxton are high on Stoetz Ridge on the western edge of the Russian River Valley and offer a bit of warmer cherry fruit to the mix. Freestone is in the far southwestern corner of the appellation, and contributes its killer depth and spice to the base notes of the blend. All of these vineyards are Sonoma County Certified Sustainable.

Alcohol:  13.5% Ta: 5.6 g/L pH: 3.54 Barrel Aging:  10 months in French oak (40% new barrels) Winemaker:  Dan Goldfield