2012 Pinot Noir Fog Eater

Jason Drew told me that vintage circumstances in the cool Mendocino vineyards that he works necessitate a flexible approach to his winemaking "because growing seasons can swing so wildly that it doesn't make sense to say you have to do this or you can't do that."So in a cooler year like 2011 the percentage of new oak will be dialed back, as will stem inclusion, while in a vintage like 2012 both can be pushed higher.And 2012, Drew noted, "is a vintage where you could do pretty much whatever you wanted in the vineyard, as long as you watched your crop and didn't let it run wild.It's hard to complain about too much of a good thing but if you had to make some criticism of '12 it was the potential for overproduction; but that's less of an issue in the cool regions than in the Russian River Valley, for example."Most of Drew's pinot was harvested in the middle of September at around 23 degree Brix, while his syrah was brought in during the third week of October at virtually the same sugar levels.