WindVane was created as an homage to the wind that contributes to the unique character of the wines of Western Carneros. After working with the same vineyards for years, winemaker Steven Urberg was intrigued by some of the windiest vineyard blocks on the estate. The wines coming from these wind-blown vines are concentrated with great depth of fruit and a generous mouthfeel. WindVane is selected from the most expressive parcels throughout our 335 acres of estate vineyards in the Carneros region of Northern California. Our unique property has an East facing exposure with a mountain range directly alongside the West side of the vineyards. The mountains provide altitude, shallow rocky soils, shade from the intense afternoon sun and they also serve to funnel the intense Pacific Coast breezes directly onto the vineyards. We select vines from the steepest, rockiest areas of the vineyards where the soils are very thin and the vines are challenged throughout the growing season. They face the natural elements of a cooler marine layer in the mornings and afternoons, and intense wind which results in small crops of very slow ripening fruit that produce intense character.

Pinot Noir grapes, from individual vineyard lots, were gently hand harvested at night into small 30lb picking boxes in order to bring the fruit into the winery intact and cold. They were then destemmed, lightly crushed and cold-soaked in small fermentation tanks holding 3-10 tons each for two days to extract color and flavors. During fermentation the grape skins were punched down or wine was pumped over one to three times per day, determined by taste, to fine-tune the extraction of the skins. When optimal extraction was achieved after 20 days, the free run wine was promptly drained from the skins and seeds and transferred to barrels for aging. Only the free run wine was used in this blend. The wine rested in our barrel caves in French oak barrels for 9 months before the wine was bottled.