Lingua Franca LLC

2019 Estate Pinot Noir

2019 Lingua Franca Estate Pinot Noir
Date Picked: September 20-21, 2019
Finished Wine: Alcohol: 13%, pH: 3.5
Suggested Retail: $50-55

The elegant and nuanced 777 Pinot Noir grown on Gelderman-Jory soils creates the top notes of mineral, floral and savory elements while the 115 provides the fruit, body and weight of the wine.  Lingua Franca Estate Pinot Noir begins with a heady scent of roses, violets and raspberries and blackberries. On the palate, the wine is round and rich, with a silky texture and lingering flavors.  The elegance of the wine is aided both by the cooler weather at harvest and by using less whole cluster than usual for this cuvée.   2019 is also the first vintage of Estate Pinot Noir that has no Pommard clone addition.

Vinification

The fruit was sorted in the vineyard, hand-picked, then fermented with wild yeast in medium sized concrete and stainless-steel tanks. 5% of the fruit was whole cluster and the rest destemmed, with only whole berries selected for the final wine. Lingua Franca Estate Pinot Noir 2019 displays the layered, complex flavors of the vintage. After fermentation, the Estate Pinot Noir 2019 was aged in a combination of 21% new and 79% old French oak barriques for 12 months and four in tank, prior to bottling.

2019 Vintage

The vineyard was recovering from drought so that the harvest again brought in low yields but of excellent quality and intensity. Harvest proceeded with cooler temperatures and fruit in perfect balance. Lingua Franca Estate 2019 combines equal parts of PN77 from the prized Gelderman soils and PN115 from well-placed site at the top of the lower block, on Nekia soils, creating a dense but elegant wine with the flavor intensity of the reduced yield.