2004
Paul Hobbs Pinot Noir, Hyde Vineyard Carneros, Napa Valley
Winemaker's Notes
The 2004 vintage produced a wine whose structure and earthiness is suggestive of a cellar-worthy offering. Scented with dusty rose and blueberry, it offers dark fruit flavors of blackberry, currant and kirsch framed by cedar and tobacco. Fine-grained tannins and mocha mark a long, earthy finish.
The growing season began with warm dry weather in spring resulting in early bud break. A long summer of even temperatures had a moderating effect, lowering yields and developing complexity in the fruit. A week of heat in late summer resulted in an early harvest and lush, concentrated wines.
Winemaking
• Hand-harvested grapes
• Fermented in small, open-top stainless steel fermentors with indigenous yeasts; 3 to 4 months to completion
• 5-day cold soak, 21 days total maceration
• Hand-punched cap
• Concurrent, spontaneous malolactic fermentation in barrels; 2 to 3 months to completion
• Aged 12 months in Francois Freres, Remond, Seguin Moreau and Sirugue French oak barrels; 75% new
• Unblended, unfined and unfiltered; bottled September 2005
