La Follette Los Primeros Pinot Noir 2023 750ml

Los Primeros – meaning “the first” – honors the early winegrowing pioneers in California who planted vines along the coast. Today, those same areas, inland from the Pacific Ocean, produce California’s most sought after Pinot Noir grapes. 

100% Sonoma County — For the 2019 Los Primeros Pinot Noir we blend both declassified barrels from some of our top single vineyard wines along with contracted sources picked by the winemaking team for specific aroma and flavor profiles. Layered into this are blending components from a handful of truly elite Sonoma Coast producers. 

Hand-picked, and hand-sorted fruit. Gently destemmed and transferred to fermentation tanks without pumping. 5-7 days “cool” soaking, before fermentation was allowed to begin. Manual punching down 1-3x per day, as needed, to distribute heat and extract aroma and flavor. Skin contact ranged from 11-16 days. Gently basket-pressed. Malolactic fermentation in barrels. Aged 10 months in small 60-gallon French oak, of which 20% was new. Barrels were long air-dried for 3+ years, and of only “medium” toast so as to have as gentle impact on the wine as possible.