WINE TECHNICALS

Harvest date: October 3rd, 2018
Fruit source: Estate South Block, own-rooted Pommard clone planted 1979
Grapes at harvest: Brix: 23.5, pH: 3.26, TA: 6.7 g/L
Finished wine: Alcohol 13.8 %, pH: 3.57, TA: 5.5 g/L
Barrel aged 15 months in French oak, 40% new barrels
99 cases bottle unfined on February 10th, 2020

WINEMAKER NOTES

The 2018 Cauldron is, in my mind at least, the finest version of this wine we have produced in the fifth vintage of production, and the best Pinot Noir we produced in 2018. For a vintage that has been praised for the overall quality of the wines, it isn’t a vintage that I think of as ‘balanced’ in its youth. Taming the structure of the 2018 Pinot Noirs at Bethel Heights was the challenge of a harvest that presented very few. While I’m proud of the results, I think it will take a few years for them to calm down and return to the form they showed at the blending table. The Cauldron has been the exception, singing now, while also showing tremendous promise for the years to come. It has elegance and grace, while still showing the nerve and density of the vintage; a tense core that radiates out into the fruit and texture rather than pulling in.

FACT SHEET