Description

When Clos Saron was established, there was only half an acre of Pinot Noir vines in what later we named the “Home Vineyard”. That block of vines was originally planted in 1979/80 with 400 Cabernet Sauvignon vines. In 1995, Saron grafted these over to Pinot, to see if this variety would do any better than the poor Cabernet, which was not very happy in this cool microclimate. In 1995, we also doubled the vine density, planting an “own-rooted” Pinot vine between every two Cabernet vines. Until and including the 2001, our Pinot was simply labeled as “Clos Saron, without any vineyard reference. In 2002, we started harvesting some fruit from the vines we planted in 1999. The young vine fruit was used to make the Pinot Too, a wine we only made in 02 and 03. Once I was confident that the fruit was good enough, we harvested it all together for the “Home Vineyard” cuvee.

Our first vintage, 1999 was also one of the most stubborn and slow aging Pinots we have made. It took about 12 years in the bottle to begin softening and showing some grace and harmony, beyond its wall of tannin and forbidding facade. The wait, however, was well compensated with the exceptional complexity and aromatic intensity which proceeded to unfold…  Order limit: 1 magnum.