An old boss of mine once said, “Why think when you can experiment?” He was, of course, being facetious, but once in a while there is something to be gained by throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks. We always try a few experiments each year, just to see what happens. Such experimentation led us to include some whole bunches in our Pinot Noir fermentations, for example. In 2007, we decided that we wanted to try making a truly traditional Pinot Noir fermentation, using 100% whole, un-destemmed and uncrushed grape clusters, tread by bare feet (we washed our feet beforehand!) and allowed to ferment on their own. This single barrel of wine was so interesting and different that we decided to bottle it separately, although at just 20 cases, most of it was intended for our Old Corral club.

About the wine: whole clusters give a wine grip and aromatic lift. It works best in the riper years, since there is often a slightly “green” component to the stem flavors. The grapes from this bottling came from part of an exposed hillside that is planted with the old “selecion nacional” Pinot Noir. It has small clusters of deeply colored, thick-skinned berries and often makes very ripe, dark and somewhat brooding wines. The use of the whole clusters adds spice and “lift” to the aromas— along with the black fruits and smoky/mineral note that is typical of our vineyard. Evelyn Vidal, our winemaker in Chile, says the wine is very “Casablanquino,” or tasting of Casablanca, which to me speaks to our mission of finding the highest expression of what our valley and our vineyard have to offer. It’s a bit more tannic than the Alazan, so give it some air to get it to open up.