About Niner Pinot Noir 2021:
This wine is a wonderful expression of what a cooler vintage at Jespersen Ranch can result in, with dark fruit flavors like raspberry and black cherry contrasted against floral, black tea and wet clay. It is ready to drink now but will continue to evolve over the next five years.
Tasting Notes:
The wine is full of red fruit flavors, with a bright and juicy palate underscored by warming potpourri, spice and clay flavors.
Barrel Selection:
The winemaker aged Niner Pinot Noir for 10 months in a combination of French oak barrels and a small concrete tank
Growing Notes:
The Niner Pinot Noir 2021 vintage was dry and cool, which resulted in extended hangtime for all of the Jespersen Ranch grapes. They received just 11” of rain, which was remarkably less than the historical average of 25”. Budbreak arrived right on time in mid-March, followed by a warm and windy spring. Veraison began a bit later than normal, likely influenced by a cool and misty summer. The vineyard had no major weather events during the fall which allowed us to leave the grapes on the vine for as long as they needed to achieve ripeness. Five different clones sourced from across the entire vineyard made up the final wine.
Harvest Dates: September 18th – October 22nd, 2021
Winemaking Notes:
Niner Pinot Noir 2021 is 100% Jespersen Rach Pinot Noir Grapes. After hand-harvesting the grapes, the vineyard fermented them in small, stainless steel, open-top tanks. A true small lot approach – this wine includes juice from 21 separate fermentations. 1/3 of the lots fermented natively, and they used stem inclusion (either whole cluster or dried stems) in half of the fermentations to further drive complexity. The winemaker aged the wine for 10 months in a combination of French oak barrels and a small concrete tank.
About The Winery:
Niner Wine Estates is a family owned estate winery. The family aspires to make great wine from two distinct vineyard sites in the central coast of California.
Their flagship blend is Fog Catcher and they are focused on estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir & Chardonnay.
The vinery’s goal is to grow high quality grapes and make delicious wines that are intentionally crafted to tell the story of each vintage and vineyard. In the winery, they strive to preserve the most unique qualities of each vineyard and vintage. They want to express those qualities alongside elegance and balance, using minimal inputs.
Niner family considers itself lucky to have two Winemakers. Winemaker Molly Bohlman is responsible for the wines from Jespersen Ranch and Patrick Muran is responsible for Heart Hill Vineyard & Bootjack Ranch wines. This division by vineyard allows them to fully focus on bringing the intricacies of each site forward in the wines. All wines are fermented, aged and bottled at the estate winery located at Heart Hill Vineyard.
Richard Niner:
Richard Niner grew up as one of eight children raised on a farm in rural West Virginia. Spent his childhood working on the farm to provide food for his family, and eventually became one of the first in his family to attend college. He graduated from Princeton and then Harvard Business School. In addition began a long and respected career building small businesses across a variety of industries, from sunglasses to machine parts.
He eventually met Pam in New York City, while she was working as a magazine editor after graduating from Smith College in Massachusetts. The pair married and had two children, Andy & Katy.
In the early 1990s, one of Richard’s ventures further introduced him to the beauty of the Central Coast. The people here reminded him of his upbringing in West Virginia. He saw the high potential for the area to compete with premier wine regions like Napa. Which was booming at the time.
This return to farming was a return to his West Virginia roots, and in his mind one of the ultimate crops to work with. He purchased his first vineyard in 2001 and spent the next decade building out the rest of the business and hiring a team to help run it. Our tasting room & winery opened in Spring of 2010 and remains the heart of our estate.Eventually, Andy took over the day-to-day management of the business and they remain family owned and operated today.
