Mount Eden Estate Pinot Noir 1973

Tasting Notes

Release Date: Spring 1976

At thirty years of age, Mount Eden’s Pinot Noir vines are shy producers. In September of 1973 we harvested slightly less than eight tons of grapes, at 24.0° Brix and 0.68% total acidity, from the eight acre vineyard.

Employing traditional Burgundian winemaking techniques, the grapes were fermented on the stems for ten days. The wine was then pressed off into new, sixty gallon, Limousin Oak barrels. We import these barrels from a skilled cooper in Beaune, France, where Limousin Oak has been chosen for hundreds of years as the wood best suited for the aging of fine Burgundies. By spring, the wine had been softened and its complexity increased by the completion of the malolactic fermentation. The wine spent sixteen months in barrel before being bottled in June 1975. It was neither fined nor filtered; racking allowed the wine to clarify itself naturally.

After nine months of bottle aging in our cool underground cellar, this Pinot Noir is maturing as a medium-bodies wine, of a more delicate style than the 1972 vintage. It is well balanced with a silky soft finish. Its fruity, mellow character will be best enjoyed now and within the next several years.

Production

425

Tech Notes

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Reviews

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