Birichino St. George Central Coast Pinot Noir 2021

The 2021 St Georges derives primarily from the elegant, floral, very small-berried pinot of the decades-old Besson planting at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains. To its register of expansive red floral notes we add the muscular, brooding, deeply-flavored old selections of pinot from a vineyard planted 1800’ up in the Chalone AVA, and just over the Gabilan Mountains in the remote Lime Kiln Valley. These sites together bring exceptionally textured depth and lifted aromatics to this dynamic Central Coast bottling.

Fermentation averaged about 35% whole cluster, with a higher proportion of the Chalone and Lime Kiln Valley lots left whole, and after several days in stainless and bins, native fermentation got going, and we put a preliminary blend down to neutral barrel in October. We racked just once when final barrel selections were made, prior to bottling unfiltered in July of 2022.