Vintage

2018

Varietal

Pinot Noir

Appellation

Sonoma Mountain

Vineyard Designation

Haas Vineyard

Harvest Date

September 2018

Acid

5.98 g/L

pH

3.64 g/L

Bottling Date

August 2019

Residual Sugar

.51 g/L

Alcohol

13.18

The Haas Vineyard is really not named, as such. It’s a modest, two-acre Pinot Noir vineyard behind an equally modest home near Glen Ellen on the eastern foot of Sonoma Mountain. It’s currently owned by Peter and Ginny Haas, but we had purchased fruit from this site through two previous owners.

I met Pete some years ago after the first harvest since he had purchased the property. His daughter was getting married and he hoped to pour wine made from his vineyard at her wedding. Happy to oblige, Pete drove his truck over, we shared a glass and he walked away with a few cases of our Three Sons Cuvee. His vineyard contributed to the blend.

The vineyard was somewhat of a mystery. We’d no idea the clones, the age, or any pedigree whatsoever. But the fruit was consistently good and made for great blending.

Some years later, in 2015, I got a call from a young man in New York, Josh Groban. He was performing on Broadway, had tasted our wine, loved it, and inquired about making a special wine to benefit his foundation, the Find Your Light Foundation. The Find Your Light Foundation funds arts education across the United States.

Since we had three sons, all artists, all having attended public schools, the fit was synchronistic. We happily agreed.

During our first blending session with Josh in our Sebastopol winery, we lined all the barrels on a cement slab to taste through. We instructed Josh to choose his favorite. From there, we would build the blend for the Find Your Light Pinot Noir from our other vineyards. He selected the Haas Vineyard barrel from all others.

The following day, I called Pete Haas to alert him of the news. I didn’t think Pete would have known of Josh. He was about 10 years my senior and I’d not heard of Josh prior to that fateful call. To be candid, I’m somewhat culturally illiterate, living in the rural reaches of Sonoma County.

When I got Pete on the phone, I shared the news, expecting him to inquire, “Who’s Josh Groban? Tell me about the Find Your Light Foundation.”

Instead, Pete simply said “C’mon?!” I was confused.

He followed with, “Josh Groban was at your HOUSE!?”

I replied, “So you’ve heard of Josh?” And he shot back, “Ross, you hadn’t?!”  He proceeded to wax on about Josh’s many accomplishments, ending in, “He probably has one of the greatest voices of the century. We listen to him all the time.”

Then he inquired further, with a degree of knowledge that was telling, “And he’s making wine for the Find Your Light Foundation?”