Saintsbury Carneros Pinot Noir Stanly Ranch

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Carneros Pinot Noir Stanly Ranch

Current Vintage: 2006

For nearly three decades we've had the opportunity to roam Carneros, seeking the best Pinot Noir vineyards for use in our “Garnet”, “Carneros”, and “Reserve” bottlings. In the last twenty years we have bottled numerous small non-commercial amounts of select individual vineyard wines for our wine library. We watch how these wines age and how the expression of terroir is nuanced by the specifics of each growing season. We liked the results so we decided to go public with our venture into showcasing the outstanding plantings of the Carneros appellation. In April 2006 we are releasing three new small-batch, single vineyard Pinot Noirs that together will take the place of our Reserve Pinot Noir.

The modern viticultural history of Carneros begins on Stanly Ranch in the 1950s when Louis Martini who then owned part of the historic property began a clonal trial of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with UC Davis and another historic California wine family, the Wentes. The well-known Martini and Wente clones of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay emerged from these trials and were propagated and sold by the Wente grapevine nursery.

The historic ranch of Judge Stanly greets visitors to the Napa Valley as they drive up Highway 29 towards the city of Napa and anchors the southeastern corner of the Carneros. The fourth incarnation of grape vines on this property began in 2001 with the development of 350 acres of vines using modern clones, spacing and vertical trellising on the property’s clay-loam soils and gently rolling hills. Saintsbury has purchased Stanly Ranch fruit since the 1984 vintage and during the last 20 years it has been a significant source for the Carneros Pinot Noir and Reserve bottlings. We have now come full circle with the Vineyard Series Stanly Ranch replacing the Reserve Pinot Noir in our Pinot Noir lineup.

The 2006 Saintsbury Stanly Ranch Pinot Noir is the plumpest of the Vineyard Series wines, filled with gobs of sour-cherry fruit and a fat and sassy middle. Classic medium ruby-red in color, the Stanly Ranch Pinot Noir is broad, full and ripe with supple tannins and lingering finish. An “I’ll have another bottle” kind of Pinot!