2009 Pinot Noir Trenton Estate Vineyard Russian River Valley

Rod Berglund told me that the 2010 "was torture, from waiting through the summer hoping that it would warm up to getting way more than we wished for, heat-wise, in mid-August."He pointed out that one day the temperature was in the mid-70s and the next day it was over 105 degrees.The only variety that made it through relatively unscathed, he said, was pinot noir, while all the other varieties were pretty well decimated.The result was half a normal crop of estate syrah, almost non-existent zinfandel production and no estate chardonnay at all.Berglund wrapped up harvest late, on November 6, with some of the little zin that survived the heat tsunami.Berglund is now working with chardonnay from Kent Ritchie's famed vineyard and is drawing from both young and older plantings, hence the two discrete bottlings.

Wild yeast (or spontaneous) fermentations, which rely strictly on ambient rather than commercial yeasts, are all the rage in the wine world these days. That's especially so among proponents of so-called "natural wines" and hard-core terroiristes who believe that standardized yeasts distort site expression. Owner/ winemaker Rod Berglund told me that spontaneous fermentations have been the practice here, "whenever remotely possible," since the winery started in 1968, "and it was considered to be pretty crazy back then, even for a little producer."

Rod Berglund wanted to emphasize to me the importance he places on holding back wines from release "until they've started to give at least a little glimpse of what's under the baby fat." Berglund, who has been making wine at Swan for 21 years now, has a formidable stash of older Swan wines (not to mention an array of bottles from around the world) at his disposal to make his point that "people are way too hasty passing judgment on a new wine that's not meant to be itself until it's 5, or 10, or even 20 years old." Berglund told me that the 2009 harvest "was incredibly long, starting on September 3rd and winding up on November 13th, which is pretty remarkable."

Rod Berglund wanted to emphasize to me the importance he places on holding back wines from release "until they've started to give at least a little glimpse of what's under the baby fat." Berglund, who has been making wine at Swan for 21 years now, has a formidable stash of older Swan wines (not to mention an array of bottles from around the world) at his disposal to make his point that "people are way too hasty passing judgment on a new wine that's not meant to be itself until it's 5, or 10, or even 20 years old." Berglund told me that the 2009 harvest "was incredibly long, starting on September 3rd and winding up on November 13th, which is pretty remarkable."