About 2015 Gogi Southpaw Pinot Noir:
‘Southpaw’ is a clever one! Made in honor of the winemaker’s son, Oliver “Southpaw”
Tasting Notes:
Gogi Southpaw Pinot Noir 2017 is smooth on the front palate with ripe pomegranate, bright cranberry and a hint of dried fig. A seamless integration of dark fruit, plush tannins and minerality are at play. Just when you think you have this one all figured out it takes you “off the grid” with lively Moroccan spices, sticky cherry tobacco and lingering licks of black raspberry. Drink now or cellar for years to come.
Barrel Selection:
barreled for 22 months
Growing Notes:
The grapes that were nurtured on the vine, picked at the precise moment of maturity, binned, soaked, fermented, the juice extracted and barreled for 22 months (18 for the Chardonnay) are now ready for the “Grand Finale.” To make it truly the wine, the winemaker relies on his nose and palate to blend what he believe makes the best combination of Chardonnay clones that will result in that year’s vintage of GoGi. When he finds what he believed to be the perfect blend, that’s what goes in the bottle. That’s the final stroke on the painting, the last edited shot that completes the film. The journey is done.
About The Winery:
Kurt, the owner of Gogi Wines, romance with wine began many years ago on bicycle trips with Goldie and their family through the great wine regions of France, Italy and California. Those fabulous excursions through picturesque vineyards provided the opportunity to sample many terrific wines. “Sampling” might be putting it lightly, especially where Burgundy is concerned. Those wines didn’t just steal the palate, they stole the heart. It wasn’t long before the dream of creating beautiful wines of his own (specifically Pinot Noir) was born. The many treasured conversations Kurt shared with various winemakers and producers from Burgundy to Bordeaux and Tuscany to Napa served to fuel his dream to someday take the leap from fantasy to reality.
Years later, while filming Quentin Tarentino’s Death Proof in the Santa Rita Hills area in northern Santa Barbara County, he was amazed to discover award winning wines that rivaled the Burgundians he so loved. As luck would have it, an old friend of his had been producing wines for quite awhile out of his rather large and beautiful vineyard just over the hill in Santa Ynez. So, Kurt decided to drop in on him and kick around the idea of possibly getting started producing wine. That old friend was Fess Parker. Sitting outside on the patio of Fess’s place, sharing a bottle of wine, he said, “Kurt, you don’t just have a dream, you have a passion, and you should pursue it.”
Not long after that Kurt was serendipitously nudged closer to taking the leap when another friend, noted photographer Greg Gorman, introduced him to Peter and Rebecca Work. They own and operate Ampelos Cellars in Santa Rita Hills where they make award winning wines from their triple certified vineyard. That is, organically and biodynamically farmed and sustainable in practice. Peter is an old school purist in the vineyard…no short cuts, no tricks, no fakin’ it.
Suddenly, quietly, and at the grassiest and greenest roots, GoGi Wines was born.
The process of learning about making and producing fine wine followed quickly. Kurt was issued a pair of clippers and a bucket and pointed toward the vineyard. Filled with visions of creating the next “La Tache,” he promptly sliced his thumb cutting the very first cluster of grapes he ever harvested. Not one to invite humiliation, Kurt stifled his yelp and hid the bleeding appendage until he could don a pair of field gloves and continued his….education.
Punch downs, general cellar ratting, working the bottling and labeling line, listening to Peter about the art of farming to attain the healthiest and tastiest grapes and of course, barrel selection are all important pieces of the fascinating puzzle of the wine making process.