My good friend and client, and accomplished writer, Dennis Hayes, introduced me to Fred and Susie Sedlacek, owners and passionate tenders of the 6 acre hillside Pinot noir vineyard located northwest of Windsor and southwest of Healdsburg named in memory of their late black Labrador retriever, Hogan.  The vineyard wraps around from a southeast to a southwest aspect; respectively planted east to west to Pommard, and Dijon clones 667, and 777.  Both the Russian River valley and the Petaluma Gap with their morning and evening fog and cool breezes moderating bright sun and warm daytime temperatures of this southern hillside.  The northern slope of the hill counterintuitively drastically increases in temperature.  Fred walks and tends the vineyard daily paying close attention to the precious delicate Pinot noir grapes.  Susie’s smiles down on the vineyard from their little fairytale California domaine.  Their current pair of German shepherds, Dodgy and Shaddow, oversee vineyard security.

The Russian River starts in in the Laughlin Range in Mendocino County and flows south to Healdsburg where it turns west toward the Pacific ocean ultimately draining in Bodega Bay.  It is the east-west portion of the river that serves as an atmospheric chilling channel due to the Pacific’s cold coastal currents descending from the north.  Hot inland temperatures pull cold air through the valley providing ideal conditions for growing Pinot noir that expresses the vibrant fruit born of California sunshine, and the elegance and bright acidity preserved by the significant diurnal temperature variation.

We intended to make both a red wine, as well as a rose’ from the vineyard.  But, wildfires forced us to salvage what fruit we could before it was ripe enough for making a red wine, and before too much smoke taint accumulated.  We were only able to make a lightly pressed rose’ this vintage.  But, what a lovely rose’ it has become.  Hopefully, we can do both in 2021.

We once again engaged our super farmer, Joe Valera, to rally a picking crew and haul the fruit to Treasure Island where I had my sorting crew assembled to swiftly get the fruit to press and into a CO2 blanketed stainless steel tank, chilled to 30 F.  Harder press fractions were separated, as usual, to give us the option of blending back later.  Due to the likelihood of smoky flavors, we forwent using them for Makasi, and are putting them to use in our Orphan Wines program.

After 5 days of cold crashing the suspended grape solids had settled to the bottom of the tank, and we racked the clear pale pink juice to another temperature controlled stainless steel tank under a blanket of CO2.  The pH of the juice caused me some concern, as it was a bit high, making the juice and subsequent wine more vulnerable to microbial spoilage.  Otherwise, it tasted a bit flabby, and needed a kick of tartaric (grape) acid to lift it up.  We performed bench trials and preliminarily determined that a 1 g/L tartaric addition would provide the necessary protection through primary fermentation.  We would revisit the acid question and fine tune after the yeast finished their vital work.  The juice was fermented cold and slow with Renaissance Allegro yeast (a Champagne yeast classically bred and selected by my microbiology hero, Dr. Linda Bisson) so as to retain volatile fruity esters that would be blown off and lost, if the fermentation were allowed to heat up too much.  Opening the top of the tank and looking in on the effervescent pink wafting up Fruit Loop aromas was a daily joy for 2 weeks until the yeast’s job was completed.

Malolactic conversion was inhibited by addition of 0.8 mg/L molecular SO2 and maintenance of temperature below freezing.

After a month of the spent yeast flocculating to the bottom of the tank, it was time to rack the clear wine off its lees.  The aromas of the wine were gorgeous, but the palate was just a bit flabby.  It needed another nudge of acidity to carry the flavor and keep it fresh.  After bench trials we determined that 0.25 g/L of tartaric acid achieved balance.

The wine was kept cold and under a blanket of inert Argon gas until sterile filtered and bottled on February 12, 2021.

This pale salmon colored rose’ carries aromas of strawberry rhubarb cobbler, Rainier cherry and rose petals.  The palate is fresh and light with elegantly balanced acidity.  It can be enjoyed chilled on its own or paired with white cheeses and light fare.

Download the Hogan's Run Technical Specifications >