Harvest Moon Estate Zinfandel Pitts Home Ranch 2005  750ml $58.00   Your Shopping Cart: Join one of the Harvest Moon Wine Clubs and save up to 30% on wines!

Vintage & Varietal

2005 100% Pitts Home Ranch Estate Russian River Valley Zinfandel
420 cases produced
Bottled unfiltered on August 5th 2007; Average brix at harvest: 25.8 
Alcohol 14.7% by volume; Residual Sugar:  less than .07 g/100 ml; Ph = 3.36

Grower & Winemaker's Notes

Over the course of the 2005 growing season, approximately 45% of the Zinfandel clusters grown on the Estate was thinned (dropped to the ground) in early August in order to produce the aromatic and flavor intensity that lies inside. Harvest Moon employs an extensive canopy management program with the trellised five-acre Zin block. This program includes spring suckering, leaf pulling, cane-positioning, fruit-thinning and deficit irrigation.

For us, the name of the game with regards to grape cultivation is carbohydrate concentration.  The amount of lbs./vine directly reflects the intensity of the wine, i.e. the fewer pounds on the vine, the more intense the flavors.  Moreover, we're finding there's a positive correlation between the amount of man hours spent working in a particular vineyard and the overt intensity of flavors and complexity of the fructose  structure in the grape juice.  With trellised Zin, one begins with a huge piece of perverbial clay and they must carve at it to form something beautiful otherwise the fruit flavors become diluted from too much fruit set or an over abundance of foliage.

Tasting Notes

We pulled the leaves on the west (afternoon) side of the canopy earlier than usual allowing for more direct sunlight to enter the canopy and ultimately thickening the skins resulting in darker color and much more structure (tannin) than vintages past.  This 100% Estate Zinfandel barreled for a full 20 months in mostly neutral oak is packed full of dark perfumed juicy blackfruit all wrapped around a mouthwatering spicy blackpepper backbone. One of the more structured Zins we've produced, this is serious wine with great possibilities. Decant and enjoy now or enjoy until at least 2014.