2023 'Oeil de Perdrix'

Originally made in 2011, the fruit came from a block at Momtazi Vineyard that abruptly lost all of its leaves far short of being ripe enough to produce red wine. In desperation, I decided to make a "white Pinot". Gently whole-cluster pressing the barely-ripe Pinot noir, I took only the first clear juice, cold fermented it, and left a touch of sweetness. The name came from the pale pink or "Eye of the Partridge" color. After release the following summer, it became a delightful summer sipper and picnic wine. It sold out in five weeks. In subsequent vintages we made OdP from other, less precious, fruit. While enjoyable, it was never as focused as the original wine. In 2019 I decided to make it from the original block of Momtazi. Because this is fruit normally used for Momtazi Pinot noir, I could only bring myself to sacrifice four bins or 1.8 tons to make OdP. The production is tiny and the wine is fabulous.