Peter Michael Winery Le Moulin Rouge Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands 2016

Description

98 Jeb Dunnuck

From vines planted in 1990 (from the La Tâche clone), the 2016 Pinot Noir Le Mouline Rouge is another great, great wine from this estate. It’s just loaded with notions of ripe strawberries, vanilla bean, spice, and flowers, and has sensational complexity and nuance. Deep, rich, full-bodied, yet weightless and elegant on the palate, it has a perfect blend of richness and elegance, with a blockbuster length. It needs 2-4 years of bottle age but is a sensational wine.

Vintage Notes

The near perfect 2016 growing season started with a warm February and early bud break. While California’s drought continued, rains were sufficient to meet the vineyard’s needs. Favorable conditions at blooming resulted in a generous set of well-formed clusters. After veraison, a single pass of thinning brought the crop into optimal balance. Overall, the vintage gave us ideal ripening conditions, maintaining excellent balance between sugar, acidity and the tannin development. Moderate temperatures at harvest allowed picking at the peak of flavor development. The vintage produced a classically styled Le Moulin Rouge with great intensity and uncommon ageability.

Winegrowing Notes

The Pinot Noir for our Le Moulin Rouge is grown on the slopes of the Santa Lucia Highlands in Monterey County. The vineyard’s coastal soil and climate add a dense, yet delicate, richness to the wine’s complexity. The clone, originally selected from Burgundy’s Grand Cru, is showcased in a concentrated perfume and distinct varietal expression. The vintage’s very small clusters and berries have produced a concentrated and intense wine. Along with fully ripe fruit, manual punch downs and barrel aging have contributed to the wine’s gorgeous, silky tannins.

Winemaker Tasting Note

On the nose, the 2016 Le Moulin Rouge is packed with intense aromas of wild strawberry, plum, violet and red cherry, followed with hints of black tea. Opening further, the bouquet reveals additional aromas of plum, blackberry and graphite with sage and iris in the background. Intense in the mouth, the wine blends richness and delicacy as the flavors stretch to a long, earthy and fruit-filled finish. This beautiful wine drinks well young yet will age for a decade.

About Peter Michael Winery

In 1982, after a six year search, Sir Peter Michael and Lady Michael purchased 630 acres of volcanic ridges on the western face of Mount St. Helena in Knights Valley. Drawing inspiration from the great wineries of Burgundy and Bordeaux, the family hired like-minded viticulturists and winemakers to help them create terroir-driven wines that would stand the test of time. Peter Michael Winery Winery produces 15 different bottlings: 3 Cabernet blends, 4 Pinot Noirs, 2 blends of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, and 6 Chardonnays. With the exception of our two barrel selection Chardonnays, all of these wines are vineyard specific.

Under the direction of vineyard manager Javier Avina, the estate vineyards are farmed by hand in a low-impact, sustainable manner, relying heavily on organic techniques that include some biodynamic practices. Cover crops control erosion, feed the soil and provide a habitat for beneficial insects; eliminating the need for chemical pesticides. Tilling, spraying and mowing are accomplished with tractors. All other operations are done entirely by hand. These include: pruning, suckering, shoot positioning, hedging, crop thinning and harvest. All harvesting is done into 20-pound fruit lugs to insure that the fruit arrives at the winery in pristine condition.