2013 August West Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir   

2013 Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir comes from August West partner John Peterson's vineyard as well as the Sierra Mar Vineyard.  2013 was a classic California vintage with little rainfall, plenty of spring, summer and fall sunshine, and it all resulted in an abundant crop of fairly ripe Pinot Noir.

The clones that came from the Peterson Vineyard are 667, Pommard, 777 and 115.  The lone clone from Sierra Mar is Mariafeld, or clone 23.  Half of this clone 23 was fermented with whole cluster fermentation, so the resulting wine is 25% whole cluster.  This fairly high percentage of whole cluster does add some tannin to the wine, so expect the 2013 August West SLH PN to take some time to open up.  It should be at its best from late 2015 and continue drinking well through at least 2023.