2006 Pinot Noir

David Adelsheim and winemaker Dave Paige told me that they never use more than one-third new oak for any of their wines' elevage, and that "minimal handling, slow destemming and extended, cool and not violent fermentations" are their preferred methods in the cellar. The malolactic fermentations take place in barrel. "Pinot is about delicacy and complexity, not power. This isn't the Rhone yet," said David Adelsheim. On this subject, the recent spate of warm to hot vintages convinced Adelsheim a few years ago to experiment with planting syrah in his Calkins Lane vineyard, and 2005 was the first vintage for that wine. "The way things are going, you'll probably be seeing a lot more of it down the road, so we'd better get comfortable with it," he told me.