Occidental Station Vineyard
Each year at harvest, Occidental Station is our first vineyard to be picked. Since the fruit always goes into our fermenters first, it does not enjoy the benefit of large populations of yeast already circulating in the winery. Therefore, it is often the slowest to start and may take over three weeks to complete alcoholic fermentation. The extended time in the fermenter only enhances its expressive personality, which features a vibrant purple color, bright natural acidity, and notes of violet, graphite, and cassis. The Occidental Station pinot noir is distinctly purple in its fruit character, in comparison to the red-fruited Bodega Headlands Vineyards and Running Fence/Bodega Ridge Vineyard wines.
2020 Occidental Station Vineyard
A stunning bouquet of purple fruit, cassis, and boysenberry that leaps from the glass. A very precise wine, framed by its firm acidity and grounded in its gravelly minerality. Silky tannins are entirely folded into the fruit. Finishes bursting with vibrant purple flavors and a rising violet perfume.
This wine comes from the best blocks of the Occidental Station Vineyard, which had been the source of our Cuvée Catherine bottling for nearly fifteen years. The site was planted by Steve Kistler in 1999.
