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, while pure and translucent, were slightly off the mark for our single-site Pinot Noir program. As a result, our Santa Cruz Mountain bottling was the fortunate beneficiary of our decision to include all of block and vineyard designated wines!

Vineyards
Pinot Noir from our Sky and Rapley Trail micro-vineyards were hand harvested between October 12th and the 26th. The maritime, high-elevation conditions and long, cool growing season at our estate, ensured great balancing acidity and structure to go with the ripe, fruit flavors.

Winemaking
With a larger-than-normal crop in certain sections of the vineyard, we made the decision to saignée, or drain off, select lots after a quick one-hour cold soak. We barreled down this pale-salmon colored juice into older French oak and fermented it at 55-58 degrees for 2 months. Finished dry and put through partial malolactic, mostly to soften the piercing acidity, this wine is essentially a blanc de noir “hybrid” of white and rose wine.

Tasting Notes
While not as dense as the ‘04s and ‘05s, our 2006 Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot still offers great class and integrity. And well it should. This beautifully balanced wine features fruit from some of the finest cold-climate, high elevation sites in the appellation. The wine is moderately dark with bright aromatics of tart cherry, black tea and orange peel. The entry is bright and carried by soft tannins that emphasize the fruit and earth components so distinctive to the Santa Cruz Mountains.

TECHNICAL DATA:

Appellation
Santa Cruz Mountains

WINEMAKER
Michael Martella

VINEYARDS
100% Estate: 81% Sky Vineyard, 29% Rapley Trail Vineyard

Elevation: 1800 ft.
Distance from the ocean: 10 miles
Finished alcohol: 13.1%
Acid/pH: .81/3.25
Total production: 101 cases
Retail price: $22.00