2011 Trousseau Luchsinger Vineyard Clear Lake

According to Duncan Meyers and Nathan Roberts, another young team making a name for themselves by exploiting cool, high-altitude sites in the North Coast and the Santa Cruz Mountains, 2011 was a rough year for yields because of the cold spells during flowering and subsequent shot berries, but it could be a fine year, quality-wise, for early-ripening varieties. "If you had your fruit in before the rain, which pretty much means that you're not a ripeness junkie anyway, you could make really pretty, fresh wines" Duncan said. In the case of varieties that ripen later, like cabernet, it was important to wait for the rainwater to be absorbed, which wasn't a major issue in dry-farmed vineyards that were starved for moisture after the dry summer and harvested well into October, as late as the 22nd for their Chalk Hill cabernet.