Vineyard: Chokmalichi Farm

AVA: Russian River Valley, CA

Farming: Organic, Dry Farmed

Harvest Date:2025 Pinot Noir ‘pretty like the wind’

Vineyard: Chokmalichi Farm

AVA: Russian River Valley, CA

Farming: Organic, Dry Farmed

Harvest Date: 26 September 2025

Bottling Date: 8 April 2026

Alc: 13%

Cases: 100

My first time making Pinot for Emme, and this is a very special wine.  A good friend of mine has a small family vineyard in the hills west and north of Sebastopol, 3 acres of Pinot Noir.  Like many growers in California, they struggled to find someone to purchase and make wine from their fruit last year.  Pinot is particularly tough for grape farmers to sell these days, because there is a large amount of it grown in our area and it generally commands a higher price per ton, partly due to how difficult it is to grow.

When it was clear my friends wouldn’t find a buyer for 2025, we decided I would make the Pinot for them. Some would be for them to keep, and some for me to label under Emme.  We picked the fruit at 23.5 brix, and brought it to the winery, where I treated it as I do all my other reds – foot crush, and ferment whole cluster.  It stayed on skins for a short six days, and then was pressed to stainless steel to finish primary fermentation.  It was moved to neutral oak barriques for malolactic and 6 months of aging, before finally being racked to tank for bottling in late March for bottling.

Indigenous yeast fermentation. SO2: 30 ppm total.  No other additions, unfined and unfiltered.

The Pinot vineyard, Chokmalichi Farm, is on lovely rolling hills in West Sonoma County.  ‘pretty like the wind’ is a song lyric that reminds me of the farm.

Bottling Date: 8 April 2026

Alc: 13%

Cases: 100

My first time making Pinot for Emme, and this is a very special wine.  A good friend of mine has a small family vineyard in the hills west and north of Sebastopol, 3 acres of Pinot Noir.  Like many growers in California, they struggled to find someone to purchase and make wine from their fruit last year.  Pinot is particularly tough for grape farmers to sell these days, because there is a large amount of it grown in our area and it generally commands a higher price per ton, partly due to how difficult it is to grow.

When it was clear my friends wouldn’t find a buyer for 2025, we decided I would make the Pinot for them. Some would be for them to keep, and some for me to label under Emme.  We picked the fruit at 23.5 brix, and brought it to the winery, where I treated it as I do all my other reds – foot crush, and ferment whole cluster.  It stayed on skins for a short six days, and then was pressed to stainless steel to finish primary fermentation.  It was moved to neutral oak barriques for malolactic and 6 months of aging, before finally being racked to tank for bottling in late March for bottling.

Indigenous yeast fermentation. SO2: 30 ppm total.  No other additions, unfined and unfiltered.

The Pinot vineyard, Chokmalichi Farm, is on lovely rolling hills in West Sonoma County.  ‘pretty like the wind’ is a song lyric that reminds me of the farm.