About Fogarty
Few wine regions on earth can match Santa Cruz Mountains’ climates, soils and vertigo-inspiring views. Set high in the mountains overlooking California’s Silicon Valley, the Thomas Fogarty winery has been making single-vineyard Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet from the SCM appellation since 1981. Fogarty’s two estates are divided into micro-vineyards, ranging from .25 to 5.25 acres, based on soil and topography. All are maritime (12-18 miles to Pacific), cool-climate (Regions I and II), high-elevation (1600-2300 feet), low yielding (1-3 tons per acre) and mountainous. The winery was founded by Dr. Thomas Fogarty, a Stanford cardiovascular surgeon and world-renowned inventor.

Vintage
2006 featured one of the longest growing seasons in recent memory. Fantastic weather during bloom left us with a real crop on the vines, something quite different than 2005. The longer cool growing season was ideal for producing lovely aromatics and silky textures, real hallmarks for us in 2006. The vintage yielded wines that are remarkably pure and translucent, highlighting regional and vintage characteristics.

Vineyards
The Michaud vineyard lies in one of the more unique growing regions in California,
Monterey County’s arid Chalone appellation. Its granite and limestone based soils are unique and well suited to the production of world-class Pinot Noir. Michael Michaud, former winemaker at Chalone Winery, farms his vineyard with love and care. He is one of the 'good guys' in the industry and we consider ourselves very lucky to make wine from such outstanding fruit.

Winemaking
Following an early morning harvest we cold soak our Pinot Noir for 5-7 days, this allows for the gentle extraction of color and flavor. We closely track our fermentation temperature to ensure gentle but thorough extraction of tannin and phenolics. The Michaud fruit often has the highest tannin levels of all our Pinot; this is reflected in our fermentation management. We drain-down the juice off the skins and seeds 1-2 times per day; this gravity-driven “drain-over” is our most gentle method of extraction,
much more so than a traditional punch down. We finish the wine in 25% new French Oak for 10 months.

Tasting Notes
Profoundly perfumed with notes of cranberry, wild rose, orange peel and Chinese five-spice, our 2006 Michaud has all the hallmarks of the 2006 vintage: precision, focus and a gorgeously elegant texture. The acidity, tannin and fruit are all well balanced and give the wine weight but also charm. We love the unique flavors the Chalone appellation give us. This wine is still drinking quite youthfully, another 2-5 years in the bottle will certainly allow for further development.

TECHNICAL DATA:

Appellation
Chalone

WINEMAKER
Michael Martella

VINEYARDS
100% Michaud Vineyard

Finished alcohol: 14.6%
Acid/pH: .63/3.74
Oak treatment: 25% New French
Barrel Treatment: 10 months
Total production: 184 cases
Retail price: $48.00