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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.
While Lee Vineyard and Stanly Ranch have significant places in the viticultural history of Carneros, Toyon Farm’s history is that of a horse ranch, hence the “Kentuckyized” moniker “Farm”. Built originally as a Morgan Horse ranch, the property was bought by Ed and Camille Penhoet in the middle ’90s. Camille’s passion is dressage so the once Morgan Horse estate has been transformed into a dressage training facility extraodinaire. Toyon Farm lies about 500 meters east of our Brown Ranch estate vineyard while sandwiched in between these two estates lies another famous Carneros property,
Hyde Vineyard.
Toyon Farm was planted in 2000 and 2001, in the ‘banana belt’ of Carneros, so called because in this northeastern corner of the appellation, the weather turns warmer a little earlier in the day and little fingers of soils of volcanic origin intermix with the more typical marine sedimentary clay-loams. It is no wonder that, texturally speaking, Toyon Farm and Brown Ranch pinots have more than a passing resemblance to each other in their fine-grained tannins and persistence and length on the palate.
The Saintsbury Toyon Farm Pinot Noir is a wine of deep ruby color with aromas of concentrated raspberry and sour cherry fruit, spice and cola nut. The wine has just the right amount of grip and a palate impression of classical proportions. Of the three Vineyard Series wines Toyon Farm displays the perfect combination of power and grace.
© 2006 Saintsbury
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