2011 Harvest and New Additions to the Family

The 2011 harvest is officially upon us and our pinot noir fruit is already “in the barn”! This year we were given an Indian summer, cool temperatures followed by heat in September, then light sprinkles in October. Luckily all of the pinot noir made it in before the first rain.

This year we were fortunate to have several important additions to the family. First and foremost Jean Hoefliger has signed on as winemaker completing the final blend composition of our newly released 2010 offering just prior to harvest. Jean, a native of Switzerland, earned a winemaking and viticulture degree at the Swiss federal school of Changins and went on to make wines at the esteemed estates of Chateau Lynch-Bages, Chateau Carbonnieux and Meerlust. With international winemaking experience from Switzerland to Bordeaux to South Africa, Jean arrived in California where for five years he continued to hone his craft as winemaker for Newton Vineyard. In addition to directing the winemaking for Armanino Family Cellars, Jean is also the winemaker for Alpha Omega Winery. We are privileged to have Jean contribute his award-winning winemaking techniques and direction to create our elegant, first-class wines.

To ensure that our wines are meticulously cared for from grape to bottle, we are also thrilled to move our wine production to Alpha Omega Winery. This move promises that our wines will receive Jean’s attentive care and nurturing throughout their journey. With Jean’s attention to detail and a distinguished winemaking facility in the heart of the Napa Valley, we are confident that the wines of Armanino Family Cellars will continue to garner awards and accolades for years to come.

In addition we have had the help of a new optical sorter out on the crush pad which has taken berry selection to new heights. With five additional harvest pros on the sorting table we are ensuring that nothing but the best fruit makes the final cut.

We have seen some incredibly small berries this harvest and while that means that our production will be down the fruit has incredible concentration along with balanced acidity. At this point the fruit is finishing up primary fermentation which means that the sugar has fermented to alcohol and we are ready to press the wine off of the skins.

We are looking forward to the impending release of our 2010 vintage and welcome any and all questions you have about harvest or the new vintage!