Our Wines

Our dear friend Ron Tanaka, an artist, poet and scholar, came into our lives in 1983. Often finding inspiration for his works in our vineyards and wines, Ron loved our Pinot Noirs best. He created two sets of poetry directly tied to Mount Eden, The Mount Eden Poems and Mountain Wines; A Girl Grows Up on Mount Eden, amongst the many pieces he wrote. Sadly, Ron took his own life in 2007, leaving us heartbroken. We decided to honor our friend by renaming one of our Pinot Noir vineyards, Tanaka and producing this special wine as a tribute to him. This vineyard site was one of Ron's favorite spots on the property and has a sense of terroir distinct from our other estate Pinot Noir vineyards: Only three barrels (approximately 75 cases) of this single-vineyard Pinot Noir are produced.

Pinot Noir is the first variety harvested at Mount Eden, kicking off the vintage season. Using natural yeasts, fermentation is conducted in small open-top fermentors and extends ten to fourteen days, with the must punched down by hand. The new wine is immediately put into 75% new and 25% one-year-old French Burgundy barrels. It matures for eighteen months before being bottle unfined and unfiltered. Nothing is added; nothing is taken away.

In contrast to our Estate Pinot, which is a blend of all four of our Pinot Noir vineyard blocks, this wine comes from just one, the Tanaka Vineyard. We selected three special barrels from this lot and bottled them in honor of our dear friend and artist Ron Tanaka.