2020 McIntyre Winemaker Series Pinot Noir - Byron Kosuge

“The idea for the Winemaker Series was born out of impatience and age-related urgency! If I’m lucky I’ll get to participate in another 20 with a diverse set of winemakers and viticulturists provides exciting opportunities to experiment and accelerate our pace of discovery. Each Winemaker brings their own style and experience, just as a great chef or a musician, to the process of producing a life enhancing experience best shared with others” – Steve McIntyre

Vineyard

The 2020 vintage was marred by wildfires in Central and Northern California and as such a lot of vineyards were not harvested north of San Luis Obispo after the fires started in early September. Our Santa Lucia Highlands Estate vineyard was no exception, we decided not to make any wine from the vineyard in 2020 due to the smoke and the fear the wine would develop “smoke taint” as a result. Consequently, we purchased grapes from the Spears Vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills AVA to make wine in 2020 and we decided Byron’s contribution would make a fine Winemaker Series offering.

Winemaking

Byron is a native Californian, born and raised in the Central Valley. He is a purist and prefers unadorned wines, or at least those that carry their adornment gracefully. He prefers a natural wine, but he doesn’t consider himself a natural winemaker in the current sense of the term. Like most New World winemakers, he is inspired by Old World wines, but firmly believes that in this New World we should be creating our own traditions and not merely copying what came before. In addition to his own wines, he works with several other small brands in California as well as Kingston Family Vineyards in Casablanca, Chile.