Birichino Pinot Noir Saint Georges Vineyard Central Coast 2023

Alex Krause and John Locke founded Birichino in Santa Cruz in 2008. Drawing on a combined four decades making wine in California, France, Italy, and beyond, they are focused on attaining the perfect balance of perfume and poise. Sourcing from a number of carefully farmed, family-owned, own-rooted 19th and early 20th century vineyards (and a few from the late disco era) planted by & large in more moderate, marine-influenced climates, their preoccupation is to safeguard the quality and vibrance of their raw materials. Their preference is for minimal intervention, most often favoring native fermentations, employing stainless or neutral barrels, minimal racking and fining, and avoiding filtration altogether when possible. But most critically, their aim is to make delicious wines that give pleasure, revitalize, and revive. 

The majority of the fruit for this delicious Pinot Noir comes from George Besson's decades-old Pinot Noir vines, planted at the foot of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Two sites from the higher-elevation limestone soils of the Gabilan Range (Rodnick and Boer) were used to supplement the blend, providing darker fruit and structure to the elegant and floral Besson Pinot. The wine was fermented naturally with roughly one-third stem inclusion and matured for 10-months in neutral barrels and puncheons. Bottled unfined/unfiltered.