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2021 Pinot Meunier
End of Vintage

2021 Pinot Meunier
Wine Specs
Vintage
2021
Varietal
Pinot Meunier
Appellation
Monterey
Vineyard
Riverview
Harvest Date
Sep 23, 2021
pH
3.7
Aging
67% French Oak, 22% Hungarian Oak, 11% American oak, 10 months
Bottling Date
Aug 10,2022
Alcohol %
13.4
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In Stock
Add To Cart
$36.00
 
SKU: 21SVIPM7EMONR12
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Pinot Meunier is part of the "Pinot Family," including Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Gris. “Meunier” translates from French as “miller”, as in a person who operates a mill to make flour, so named because the underside of the leaves have fine white hairs that resemble a dusting of flour. Pinot Meunier is one of the three main varieties used in traditional Champagne production and accounts for more than 40% of the acreage within the Champagne AOC. It’s not widely planted in California and, in fact, it’s rather rare to find Pinot Meunier made as a single varietal as it’s most often used to add fruitiness and aromatics to sparkling wine cuvées. Our Pinot Meunier has a vibrant ruby color with notes of black cherry, raspberry and currant and subtle notes of vanilla and mocha. The wine has soft structured tannins, balanced acidity, and a bright red fruit finish.

Wine Specs
Vintage
2021
Varietal
Pinot Meunier
Appellation
Monterey
Vineyard
Riverview
Harvest Date
Sep 23, 2021
pH
3.7
Aging
67% French Oak, 22% Hungarian Oak, 11% American oak, 10 months
Bottling Date
Aug 10,2022
Alcohol %
13.4
Download
Wine Profile
Vineyard
Our Riverview Vineyard is located two miles southeast of Soledad and adjacent to the Pinnacles National Park on a bench overlooking the Salinas River. The bench location aids in creating excellent air flow and the southwestern exposure maximizes available sunlight.  Morning fog and afternoon winds from the Monterey Bay’s marine influence create a true Region I climate, allowing the fruit to ripen slowly and evenly. We farm only an acre of Pinot Meunier at our Riverview Vineyard, a premier vineyard site for this varietal.
Varietal Composition
The 2021 growing season was marked by moderate temperatures, which further extended Monterey County’s naturally long hang-time. To start off the season, we were met with a swift and unusually large rainfall in late January. Moving into summer, drought conditions returned and, combined with consistent marine layer coverage, fruit maturity was delayed. As the summer unfolded into early fall, the marine layer moved off the coast, providing a much-welcomed late surge of heat and sunshine. The extended time on the vine allowed the fruit to slowly mature and resulted in refined phenolic development and fantastic fruit quality that shines throughout our 2021 vintage wines.
Winemaking
The grapes were handpicked, destemmed and crushed into small fermentation bins. During fermentation, we gently punched down the cap three times per day and held the juice on the skins for two weeks before pressing. At dryness the must was drained and then pressed to stainless steel tanks. After settling the heavy solids, the juice was racked clean to small oak barrels for secondary fermentation and aged for ten months before bottling.
Cases Produced
170