2023 Clarion WV Pinot Noir

Dense and light at the same time

The Cliff Notes: The color is translucent raspberry red. The nose is guava, gooseberry and blue taffy. The palate is a mouth-filling plurality of fresh raspberries, peaches and blueberries. The volume is surprising, as is the fresh acidity which keeps it moving at speed for quite some time.

The Story: This wine’s not really about terroir or age-ability, it’s just delicious. It has a 9.6 gulp-ability factor year-round, yet excels in summer as a chill-able red. It blurs the line between red and white with huge fruit and fresh acidity.

Fermentation: It’s clean, 100% native-yeast-fermented Pinot noir, half pressed off its skins and half fermented on its skins. We start it in tank, go to barrel, build massive fruit esters, and finish it in the manner of a dry, aromatic white.

Elevage: 100% barrel aged in older French oak barrels. Aged using lees addition and an extinct Champagne methodology to broaden and nuance the mid-palate. Racked once and filtered prior to bottling January 2024.

Vineyards: This is a single vineyard wine farmed biologically intensively by JKC off our organically certified St. Dolores Estate (14 years) surrounding the winery.

— Jim Prosser
Owner/winemaker