Harvest Moon Estate Zinfandel Pitts Home Ranch 2007  750ml $38.00   Your Shopping Cart: Join one of the Harvest Moon Wine Clubs and save up to 30% on wines!

Vintage & Varietal

100% 2007 Pitts Home Ranch Estate Russian River Valley Zinfandel
410 cases grown, produced and bottled in July 2009; Average brix at harvest: 23.8 
Alcohol 14.7% by volume; Residual Sugar:  less than .07 g/100 ml; Ph = 3.38

Grower & Winemaker's Notes

The 2007 vintage brought consistent summer weather patterns with moderate high and mild low temperatures. The russian River fog layer rolled in but burnt off by mid morning. Harvest Moon employs an extensive canopy management program with the trellised five-acre Zin block which includes spring suckering, leaf pulling, cane-positioning, fruit-thinning and deficit irrigation.

For us, the name of the game with regards to grape cultivation is carbohydrate concentration. The amount of lbs./vine directly reflects the intensity of the wine, i.e. the fewer pounds on the vine, the more intense the flavors. Moreover, we're finding there's a positive correlation between the amount of man hours spent working in a particular vineyard and the overt intensity of flavors and complexity of the fructose structure in the grape juice. With trellised Zin, one begins with a huge piece of proverbial clay and they must carve at it to form something beautiful otherwise the fruit flavors become diluted from too much fruit set and/or an over abundance of foliage creating undesirable green flavors.
Once a lot arrived at the crushpad, the destemmed berries were pumped into small 3/4 ton open-top fermentors where they fermented dry in 11-15 days. During fermentation, the cap was managed every eight hours to prevent excess heat which causes off aromas and flavors. The three lots were placed in 100% neutral, well seasoned barrels and aged seperately for 21 full months until they were blended and bottled in July 2009.
 

Tasting Notes

The 2007 vintage for Harvest Moon was an amazing experience. 

The wine from the single-vineyard Estate Zin was harvested in three separate lots beginning in late August and concluding in early October. Each of the three components possessed distinctly different aromas and flavors which were fermented and barreled separately until the end of the long 21 months aging. The early lot was 20% of the master blend and exhibited tart thimble berry and high pitch red spice. The second lot of Zin consisted of 60% of the blend and brought the solid core of juicy raspberry and perfumy black pepper to the table. The final lot was picked relatively late representing the ripe black fruit contingent of the blend. The skins were thick, dark and leathery offering the final blend the soft rich velvety edge.

This single vineyard wine represents a symphony of aroma and flavors each playing off each other offering a complete wine drinking experience. The perfumy black pepper and deep rich black fruit is stunning considering the relatively low alcohol and no new oak flavors.