2019 Thorne Pinot Noir, Rio Vista Vyd
The Thorne family own the well-known Rio Vista Vineyard, selling most of their grapes to other winemakers. They keep just 300 hundred cases worth of grapes for their own label, made by none other than Santa Barbara County legend Ken Brown. The 2019 vintage is full of juicy blueberry, blackberry and plum with hints of juniper and white pepper.
The vineyards were planted in 2000 and 2006 with 100% Pinot Noir on 65 acres with seven clones. In addition to our own production the vineyard has sold to a number of local wine makers including Brewer-Clifton, Ken Brown Wines, Fess Parker, Flying Goat Cellars, Hartley-Ostini Hitching Post Wines, Koehler and others. For thre 2019 Pinot, they chose small lots (1 to 3.5 tons) of Pinot clones from four different blocks, and destemmed into open top fermenters with daily punch downs to gently extract all the character of the grapes and the vineyard. Deep burgundy in color this wine has a rich, flowing mouthfeel with ripe tannins, well developed with classic Pinot Noir typicity.
