Birichino - Saint Georges Pinot Noir - 2021

Santa Cruz. The Saint Georges Pinot Noir hails primarily from the very old Besson Vineyard, established in the early 1900s at the southern reach of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The site is marginally too low and on the wrong side of the road to be officially included in the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA. Instead, the wine is labelled in homage to George Besson, with whom Birichino has worked for over 20 years. The vineyard is managed organically to make the most of the rich granitic and sandy loams.   The 45-year-old Pinot Noir vines contribute 85% of the fruit for this wine, with the remaining 15% sourced from the Enz, Antle and Boer vineyards (the latter two in Chalone at high elevation on limestone and granite soils). It was fermented with around 30% of the stems added back and aged in old barriques and demi-muids.   This is already a delicious wine, offering up waves of succulent red fruit, sappy brightness and underbrush to go with its juicy, supple and balanced palate. To quote an anonymous source at our USA tasing in Melbourne recently, “It’s really delicious”. Importer Notes, Bibendum