Wine of the day: Hitching Post Pinot

PINOT NOIR – Cuvees

Hartley-Ostini Hitching Post Winery
P.O. Box 2009
406 East Highway 246
Buellton, CA 93427
(805) 688-0676

info@hitchingpostwines.com

• HIGHLINER, Santa Barbara County

With this, our top-of-the-line bottling, we blend our best barrels from our best vineyards. Our goal is to achieve balance and complexity in a graceful and elegant, yet compelling and complete expression of Pinot Noir from our region.

Highliner Pinot2003 was a warm vintage that on average set a very small crop of one ton/acre. We let this small crop hang extra long, so as to obtain optimum levels of ripe fruit flavors. We were able to pick each clone from each vineyard at full maturity (25+ degrees brix) between September 7th. and Sept 24th.

Our grapes were picked in perfect condition during the coolness of early mornings. We destemmed into 1.5 ton open top fermenters, and allowed a cold maceration over a 3 day period. We then innoculated with Assmenshausen yeast. We did many manual punchdowns of the grape skin cap during the early stages of the ferments, to achieve maximum extraction of color and flavor. After an 18 day fermentation, we pressed off the juice and went straight to barrel with lees. In barrel the wines completed malolactic and rested until racking just before bottling (unfiltered) in Feb. 2005. 2003 Highliner

For this Highliner, we chose a cuvee that was barrel aged in 65% new Francios Frere French oak barrels, sourcing 90% of the fruit from the Santa Rita Hills. This blend combines clones 777, 667, 115, 2A & 4. As we increase our vineyard sources and expand the clonal selection from each site, we have so much to work with in the blending process. With this full palette we have a tremendous opportunity to test our skills at crafting what we think is our best wine. To arrive at this, our favorite cuvee, we tried no less than 8 test blends.

This bottling shows the best of a well structured, graceful yet flavorful vintage. Full body, intense dark fruits, white pepper spice and earthiness, all tightly wound in a seamless package that is sure to give more and more as it opens with age.

The name “Highliner” comes from partner Gray Hartley’s 25 years of commercial fishing of Alaskan salmon. It was there that he worked along side the best fishermen in the fleet, and they were called “Highliners.” It seems only fitting for us to call the best wine of our lineup – “HIGHLINER.”

900+ Cases Produced

Hartley Ostini Hitching Post wines are available by the taste, glass or bottle at the Hitching Post II restaurant where they are sold to take home. They can be found at several retail outlets and, of course, from our website order form.  When the winery is sold out of these wines, some may still be available elsewhere, we are leaving the descriptions here to assist you with your choice. Winery prices are listed on this site’s order form.

Brand: Hartley-Ostini Hitching Post
Style: Red Wine
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Region: Santa Barbara County
Category: California
Size: 750 ml

More Details:

• Shipments will usually occur shortly after January 1,  April 1 and October 1

• Members can opt out of the club by notifying us 30 days prior to the next shipment. Members agree to receive a minimum of three shipments
• Your card will not be charged until wine is shipped. Each shipment will be approximately $60-$75, plus tax and shipping
• Regular shipping restrictions apply (our order form will show  will let you know if we can ship to you

JOIN THE CLUB by clicking the box on our regular order form