Got an E mail this morning from these guys hyping their first release. Anybody ever tried anything in the barrels? (I saw the one TN on Cellar Tracker.)
They were a no show at a recent SLH trade tasting in carmel. KW ranch is the vineyard formerly known as Fairview Ranch, KW standing for Kirk Williams (owner/proprietor). The syrah fruit from the vineyard has always been fantastic with white pepper and racy grapefruit acidity (check the Rhys (alesia) one offs. Big Basin, and Wrath renditions) I’ve never seen the pinot fruit get the single vineyard treatment though it comprises a portion of Pelerin’s SLH blend, Morgan’s ‘12 clones’ and Bernardus’ monterey county/SLH blends. Pom 4 seems to be the slutty workhorse clone providing the big bold sluttyness that SLH vineyards(that aren’t blessed with the pisoni clone) are known for. Sabrine has been doing a great job rebranding San Saba into Wrath so this new pinot project will probably have some promise. If they have anything lying around the winery i’ll find out how it is in a week or so.
Thanks! Hope to see your Tasting Note soon.
Actually, Eno Wines in Berkeley (where I work part-time) has been making a single-vineyard Pinot from Kirk’s vineyard since 2003. We get both Pommard 4 and 667 clones from there.