Navarro Vineyards - 2001 Pinot Noir

2001 Pinot Noir
Méthode à l'Ancienne
Anderson Valley, Mendocino

Fish friendly

Navarro’s 2001 Pinot Noir, Méthode à l'Ancienne is particularly delicious accompanying fresh grilled salmon drizzled with a mustard dill sauce but that is not the full scope of what we mean when we say that our Pinot Noir is fish friendly. This summer Navarro Vineyards was recognized by the California State Senate and Assembly on the occasion of being certified as a Fish Friendly Farm. Fish Friendly Farming is a voluntary program that addresses recovery efforts for the federally listed threatened Coho and Chinook salmon and steelhead trout in North Coast watersheds. We spent well over a year developing a comprehensive conservation plan for Navarro Ranch. Then a team from three agencies, the National Marine Fisheries Service, California Department of Fish and Game and the Regional Water Quality Control Board reviewed our plan, visited the vineyards and officially certified Navarro as Fish Friendly.

Deborah’s great grandfather George Washington Stern on a fishing trip with guide Pete Solomon in 1897. We have a family tradition of spending Ted’s birthday line fishing for wild salmon. We try to farm Navarro Vineyards in such a way that generations to come will also be able to enjoy a fresh salmon dinner after they recover from an early morning bout of sea sickness.

Navarro’s Fish Friendly Farming plan includes beneficial practices such as using cover crops between vine rows to reduce sedimentation, careful design of vineyard and road drainage, annual monitoring of erosion-control measures, especially after rain, and protection of the riparian corridor.

Méthode à l'Ancienne is a fancy way to say the "old fashioned way" and it refers to the fact that we gently punch down the cap of our fermenting Pinot Noir rather than pumping- over. It is a labor intensive way to make Pinot but it helps minimize harsh tannins and enhances the bright fruit. It feels right that we are farming in such a way as to help restore the streams in the North Coast so that future generations will have the pleasure of drinking a delicious, hand crafted bottle of Pinot Noir with a freshly caught wild salmon. Silver Medal winner.

Specifications

Harvested: Sept. 17 to Oct.4, 2001
Sugars at harvest: 24.5° Brix
Bottled: Sept 2 to 9, 2002
Alcohol: 13.7%
Titratable acidity: 6.0 g/l
pH: 3.70

2001 Méthode à l’Ancienne Pinot Noir

Delicate floral scents edge this pinot, its light but piercingly long flavors extended by the cool, coastal nights of the Anderson Valley. The texture is firm, the flavors are crisp as red apple and tart as tangerine. Dusty tannins in the end will focus those flavors on veal and mushrooms. - Wine & Spirits Magazine, "The Year’s Best Pinot Noir", January 2004.

Fresh and fragrant, with snappy black cherry and wild berry fruit that offers a hint of jam. Focused and persistent, with fine-grained tannins, and a whiff of blueberry on the finish adding to the complexity. Drink now through 2008. - James Laube, Wine Spectator, April 30, 2004.

It is my belief that Pinot Noir, unlike Cabernet Sauvignon for instance, can be absolutely delicious in pure, fruity, lightish, early-maturing form. There is something so delicate, flirtatious and beguiling about a Pinot made to express this unadorned face of the grape - particularly at this time of year when, in the northern hemisphere at least, we are starting to look for red wines suitable for drinking in warmer weather, wines that may be flattered by being served very slightly cool….the easiest way to buy is from their own atmospheric website www.navarrowine.com where this wine is a refreshing change from so many California wine prices. Suffice it to say that this wine is pure pleasure at a very reasonable price. And what more could one ask for? Look out for it on wine lists of American restaurants with particularly astute sommeliers. - Jancis Robinson, jancisrobinson.com, April 27, 2004.

Navarro’s Ancienne always seems to produce a fresh Pinot, not an ageable heavyweight, and this one’s no exception. It has pretty flavors of cherries, coffee and smoke, with silky tannins. - Wine Enthusiast, June 2004.