2019 Vespidae WV Pinot
Delicate, dark, dry
A Story: Vespidae (ves-puh-day): Latin name of the family of wasp trying to kill me.
The Cliff Notes: Deep red garnet is the color thrown. Pencil, blond spice, cola, white pepper, leather and earth waft from the glass. Dry cherry, blueberry and rhubarb meet jerky and snuff (green tobacco?) on the palate. It finishes long on nectarine with fine front-of-mouth tannin that lingers.
The Vintage: 2019 seems like forever ago and was an absolute keeper. It was a moderate growing year with slightly lower yields, a modicum of rain near the end from which you needed to stay clean, and a late September into early October harvest. The wines are in-the-pocket, linear on nice acid and very pretty, ripe and balanced without being over the top.
The Building of: Six- to eight-barrel-lot, wild-yeast fermentations in stainless steel, 100% barrel aged for 17 months: 14% new, 33% one year, 53% two year or older. Bottled unfined and unfiltered in March 2021.
Ageability: Get it some air in the first three years. This wine should easily climb in complexity beyond ten years.
Vineyards: This is our flagship bottling representing three great vineyards. In 2019 the lead is our structured and juicy St. Dolores Estate (12 years) at 47%, followed by Temperance Hill’s linear old-vine elegance (40 years) at 43%, and finishing with fruit-dominant Gemini Vineyard (29 years) at 10%.
— Jim Prosser, owner/winemaker
