2018 Cuvée Number One | Pinot Noir
$55.00
Evocative & silky Russian River Pinot Noir at its finest.
A beautiful, shimmering dark ruby profile from rim to core, the 2018 Cattleya Cuveé Number One Pinot Noir showcases the best the Russian River Valley has to offer. The epitome of purity, this wine bursts from the glass aromatically with notes of ripe raspberry, black cherry, and strawberry cream. A blanket of soft, velvety tannin envelops juicy flavors of red currant, crushed strawberries, and blackberry crisp. Painstaking attention to detail during fermentation has created a wine of unmatched focus and intensity, while extended barrel aging delivers a level of complexity that will warrant a second glass. The cool growing climate from which this cuvée is born, provides a backbone of age-worthy acidity that suggests patience in opening your next bottle will be greatly rewarded.
THE APPELLATION
Cuvée Number One is a pure reflection of one of the coolest areas of the Russian River appellation, Green Valley. This small vineyard is covered by fog in the morning and exposed to sunlight in the afternoon. Clusters ripen slowly, allowing them to achieve perfect ripeness, intense aromatics, velvet-like tannins and an array of red fruits and earthy characters.
THE CRAFT
Each of the three clones that this cuveé was comprised of were fermented separately in their own small, stainless steel open-top tanks. The harvest for these clones took place on September 12th and September 26th. All of the fruit was destemmed before spending ten days cold soaking. We employ a slow, gentle extraction by punching down the cap into the fermenting juice by hand. This gives us optimal levels of color, tannin, and flavor. The fruit spent 23 days in tank, followed by full malolactic fermentation in 30% new French oak barrels. Our blend was 50% Pommard, 26% clone 115, and 24% clone 114. This wine was bottled in August 2019, unfined and unfiltered.
THE TASTE
A basket of red berries draped in a blanket of soft, velvety tannin, this cool climate Pinot Noir is the epitome of Russian River Valley purity and elegance.
Alc: 14.3% Cases produced: 320 (9L equivalent) – 750 mL
THE MEANING BEHIND THE NAME
My Cuvée Number One bottling represents my first appellation blend under Cattleya Wines. The grapes for Cuvée Number One are from the beautiful Russian River Valley. In 2014, I tested different blends between the few barrels of Pommard and 115 clones. Out of all the blends I created, the first blend was the one I chose to bottle, leading me to the name of this wine.