Technical Stats:
Clone: Pommard
Elevation: Valley Floor
Oak : 25% new french barrel aging for 15 months.
Harvest Date: September 6th, 2017
Hand Picked, Hand sorted, destemmed.
500 Cases/ Alc: 13.5% / pH: 3.47 / TA: 6.7
Winemaker Notes:
The Helluva Vineyard has consistently been the “crowd favorite” among Smith Story Pinots and garnered high scores from wine critics alike. It’s hard to believe that the 2017 Helluva is our 4th bottling of the Helluva Vineyard Pinot Noir. This vineyard has proven to be so classic Anderson Valley for us each year. We’ve steadily grown our production size to 500 cases beginning with just 4 barrels produced in 2014 of this precious wine!
The 2017 harvest season kept us on our toes more than our prior 3 growing seasons combined in Helluva. The early summer months brought very cool nights then heat picked up the pace around labor day weekend. It was Eric who made the call to sit and let the grapes chill out after the heat-spike that created quite a buzz in the
valley. A dramatic few days for winemakers. Turns out that it was a good call, a great call in fact because the flavors of the grapes were just not ready and enjoyed the extra sunshine that ended up creating perfect ripening on the vine until we picked a couple days later. Nearly under the Harvest Moon... this vineyard is magical at night under the bright sparkling starry-filled sky above Boonville in the Anderson Valley.
Tasting Notes:
Joyous...the word that pops in our head first when tasting the 2017 Helluva Vineyard Pinot Noir. Bright red fruits with a streak of cardamom, spice cake and red licorice. The tannins are fuller than the2016 and this wine will be known as a classic Anderson Valley Pinot Noir. The mouthfeel is well structured, focused and slightly reminiscent of our 2014 Helluva. It’s a stunning Pinot Noir. We are so excited to share this beautiful Anderson Valley Pinot Noir with you all!
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