Florèz Wines "Cave Dew" Pinot Noir 2023

A bright, medium density Pinot with a nice, dark hue. Focused and expressive aromas of cherry, blueberry and earthy musk, along with a plush and full fruited palate. Light and crunchy with tart zippy red and black fruits, cedar and a bit of turned earth.

80% of this wine was fermented in stainless steel. After being pressed the wine was aged on fine lees in tank for six months. 20% was fermented more traditionally, 50% whole cluster and 50% destemmed in open top fermenter, just to explore what would work well with the fruit. Aged in barrel sur lie for approximately six months. The two components were reunited at racking and 18 ppm sulfur was added in preparation for bottling.

Florèz Wines was started by James Jelks in 2017. James grew up in the Santa Cruz area and studied winemaking at UC Davis. He worked in wineries all over the world for 10 years before returning home to make wine in the Santa Cruz area. He farms some vineyards himself, always dry-farmed, and also sources some fruit from organic and sustainable vineyards. He always works with native yeasts, does not use additives except for a minimal amount of sulfur at bottling, and does not fine or filter the wines.