Stagiaire - 'Relief in Ambiguity' - Pinot Noir - Santa Cruz Mountains, CA - 2022

Pinot from the Santa Cruz Mountains. Planted by Gerhard a little more than 20 years ago. I’ve had the pleasure of taking care of the site since 2020. Dark and brooding. Batman villain energy.

22 year old Pinot planted in the Summit region of the Santa Cruz Mountains at 1700-1800ft by Gerhard Schlecht as a retirement project. At the end of 2019, I took over management when Gerhard could no longer keep up with the vines. Organic and no tilling. No tractor. Everything done by hand. Less intensely affected by the drought this season than the vines were in 2021. We had a good fog season in 2022 relieving the vines from the heat and dryness. A steady growing season. We had some powdery mildew outbreaks in a few sections dropping our yields and a small heatspell in early August that ushered the grapes to maturity. We pick slowly, sorting out any damaged clusters and end our picks with a luxurious picnic and maybe a dip in the pool before shuttling the grapes back to the winery.
Whole clusters are dumped into a fermenter uncrushed for a day to allow the freshly clipped stems to dry and cure. The next day we crush enough of the fruit to have plenty of juice for pumpovers. Two longer pumpovers a day to pull out color, flavor, and delicate aromatics before alcohol and heat build and encourage the extraction of harsher phenolics. Pressed after 7 days and aged in neutral wood for a year.
When tasting blind, I talk about the triangle of Gamay/Syrah/Mondeuse where these varieties share some similarities and can be mistaken for eachother depending on vintage and vinification. I feel like the 2022 Relief in Ambiguity could easily mistakenly be placed somewhere in that triangle.
The wine opens dark and brooding. Ravenous to be let out the bottle to breathe like a wicked genier. Decanting is encouraged. Iodine and saline like a chilling breeze off of the Pacific. Complex and dynamic, shifting its profile as you change your position in relation to it. The whole clusters grip is loosening and the underlying essence seeps slowly through its fingers. Promising and exciting and maybe a touch haunting. Big batman villain energy. Take your sweet time with this one.
nothing added or removed. no sulfur. not contract or custom crush.

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‘STAGIAIRE’
The French word for apprentice and what the winemaker I worked for in Jura called me when other local vigneron asked who the hell the guy speaking really bad French was.
The name encapsulates humility, impermanence, and the pursuit of knowledge.
I work with vineyards that are organic at a minimum, actively seeking thoughtfull and regenerative practices instead of recipe farming. Most importantly I want to work with good people that are trying to farm with nature instead of against it. Starting in 2020 I am farming a few parcels of my own.
If we have good grapes, why add anything to them in the cellar?