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42 WINES&VINES April 2018 WINEMAKING I f the devil is in the details, then Pinot Noir makers comprise an unholy lot. Pinot Noir cuts a cruel swath through winemakers who may be inattentive, ill- informed or uninspired. In an effort to analyze domestic Pinot Noir production standards, six winemakers from two regions—Sonoma and Willamette Val- ley—share their viticultural, vinification and post-production methods here. The wines in this article retail for $45 to $90 per bottle. Oregon winemakers include Thomas House- man of Anne Amie Vineyards in Chehalem Moun- tains, Claire Jarreau of Brooks Wines in Eola-Amity Hills and Felipe Ramirez of Chapter 24 Vineyards, also in Eola-Amity Hills. California winemakers comprise Theresa Heredia of Gary Farrell Vine- yards in Russian River Valley, Michael Cox of Schug Carneros Estate in Sonoma Carneros and Paul Sloan of Small Vines in Sebastopol. Note: This article draws inspiration from The Cube Project launched in 2010 by three winemakers in three regions over three vin- tages: Thomas Houseman of Oregon's Anne Amie, Andrew Brooks at Bouchaine Vineyards in Carneros and Leslie Renaud at Lincourt in Santa Rita Hills. For that project, each producer picked six tons of Pommard clone Pinot Noir on the same day from their respective vineyards, keeping two tons for their own use and distributing two tons each to the remaining wineries. The re- sults yielded nine wines from three vineyard sites, representing three expressions of each vineyard. The impetus behind The Cube Proj- ect was to understand whether or not tech- nique trumps terroir. The matrix or table in this feature derives from The Cube Project, with minor modifica- tions, by permission of Anne Amie Vineyards. Viticulture Legendary Burgundy winemaker Henri Jayer once stated, "A successful vinification thus means that you must be a good wine grower before being a good winemaker." Many Burgundians endeavor to bottle the essence of each vintage and respective parcel with minimum intervention, thereby allowing for maximum expression of terroir, a sense of place, to shine through. But Burgundy operates within strict produc- tion guidelines outlined by France's Appellation d'origine Contrôlée, which dictates everything from varietal options to labeling. In contrast, Pinot Noir producers in the United States have no such constraints, thereby controlling wine- making decisions as disparate as soils, aspect, elevation, clones, rootstock, vine spacing, trel- lising and pruning selection in the vineyard, as well as work areas, additives and production methods in the cellar. Vineyard variations Regardless, Mother Nature calls the final shots in the vineyard. Vintages dictate choices, both in the vineyard and the cellar. In this study, vintages span 2014-2017, based upon the winemaker's preference. "One of the reasons I chose the 2014 is because it's probably, to date, my favorite vintage," says Paul Sloan of Small Vines in Sonoma's Sebastopol. "The 2014 vintage had great balance across the board, which resulted in wines of exquisite balance in acidity in fruit, in tertiary components, in structure, in age- ability. So I literally did not have to do any augmentation to the wines. The only thing I added was sulfur post-ML. If you can achieve an excellent wine without modification, to me that's the holy grail, the best of the best." Michael Cox of Schug winery in Sonoma Carneros proffers the 2016 vintage, conceding, BROOKS WINERY KEY POINTS Winemakers in the Willamette Valley of Or- egon and in Sonoma County, Calif., agreed to share their techniques for making high- quality Pinot Noir. The accompanying table shows the details for 29 different parameters for each of the wines discussed in the article. Seeking Perfection in Pinot Noir Six winemakers in two states share their vineyard and winery practices By L. M. Archer "God made Cabernet Sauvignon, whereas the devil made Pinot Noir." —André Tchelistcheff Claire Jarreau of Brooks Winery in Oregon's Eola-Amity Hills.