We picked the grapes for this late-harvest blend right after Thanksgiving. Clusters that had been left hanging had developed intensely sweet, fruity flavors with some botrytis. We added fruit from a few errant Gewurztraminer vines in the vineyard -- a result of error on the nursery's part when the Pinot Noir was planted, but one we're now very thankful for as the Gewurzt grapes add great aromatics to our late-harvest wine.
We harvested these grapes ourselves, selecting them cluster-by-cluster and sometimes berry-by-berry. Then we pressed the fruit in a small, hand-operated basket press. It was fermented with wild yeast, aged in stainless steel so there would be no interference with the sweet, fruity flavors. It was hand-bottled, hand-labeled and hand-wax-dipped. Only eight cases were made of this wine.
