2022 August West Pinot Noir Graham Family Vineyard Russian River Valley
Regular price $49.98
The 2022 Graham Family Vineyard Pinot Noir is August West's 19th harvest from Howard Graham's 9 acre site in the heart of the Russian River Valley. The '22 Graham Pinot is a very fruit-forward, concentrated wine with traditional Russian River earthiness and spice to add to the complexity.
The Graham Family Vineyard is located in the heart of the Russian River Valley appellation, between the towns of Forestville, Sebastopol and Graton. Howard Graham found the site for his vineyard in 2001, hired vineyard manager Charlie Chenoweth, and began planting in the spring of 2002. Howard and Charlie chose Pinot Noir clones 667, 777, 828, Swan and Calera in order to cover a wide spectrum of Pinot flavors.
Although the Russian River Valley appellation covers a large area in western Sonoma County, the Graham Family Vineyard lies in a small sub-appellation called Green Valley. Years ago when the neighboring winery Iron Horse planted their vineyards, it was thought that Green Valley was the coolest place in California where Pinot Noir would ripen. Fewer than 10 miles to the west of the vineyard lies the Pacific Ocean, so it is no surprise that the amount of sunshine during the growing season is equaled by cooling sea breezes and layers upon layers of fog.
Beneath the Graham Family vineyard is a deep layer of Gold Ridge sandy loam soil. This is the soil which supported the ubiquitous apple orchards of the region for the past 100 years, until the Pinot Noir planting boom of the late 1990s replaced many of those orchards. Gold Ridge is unique in its water-holding capacity and its ability to allow vines to be dry-farmed within two to three years of being established. The Graham Family vineyard is set up with a modern drip irrigation system, but there hasn't been much of a need to use the system thus far. The young vines' roots have found a good home in the Gold Ridge soil.
Shipping Policy
- Unless your delivery address is on the West Coast, we strongly discourage you from selecting “Ground Service” as your shipping method. During the winter and summer months, weather conditions (temperature) and longer delivery times can often result in the spoilage of your order. It doesn’t make sense to invest in fine wines and then take the chance of ruining them due environmental factors during transit (faster and safer delivery generally isn’t much more expensive). We don’t make an additional profit on accelerated delivery, but we frequently recommend faster shipping options to our customers outside the West Coast.
- You must be 21 years of age to order or receive alcoholic beverages. Any shipments containing alcoholic beverages are sent with an “Adult Signature Required” sticker, and the common carrier that delivers our merchandise is required to ask and check for identification upon delivery. This means that an adult will have to be present at the time of delivery. Please consider shipping to an office address.
- During periods of extreme weather, we attempt to ship wines at the beginning of each week in order to get shipments to you before the weekend. This is because we have no control over the temperature conditions at our freight carriers’ warehouses. The result may be that your shipment doesn’t go out the day that you place an order.
- We ship by Fedex or Fedex Ground. Our prices include packaging materials. Insurance may be available for an additional charge.
- Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. will arrange for shipment on behalf of the buyer, to an address specified by the buyer, provided that Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. in its sole judgment believes that such shipment will not subject Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. to the risk of any sort of legal action or other harm. If a buyer lives in a state where the direct shipment of wine by Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. violates the law, we suggest that the buyer provide an alternative address in another state or have their wine shipped to a third-party storage facility in a direct shipping-friendly state.
- Various states impose limitations on the quantity of alcoholic beverages that may be purchased and brought into their jurisdiction by a purchaser from another state without requiring the purchaser, a seller or shipper to possess certain licenses or permits. Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. does not, as a condition of sale, assume any obligation nor bear any responsibility whatsoever for applying or obtaining any permits or licenses. Therefore, we recommend that you investigate the possibility of such limitations, and determine the manner in which alcoholic beverages shall be brought into your state from California, so as to comply with all of your state’s requirements.
- Wine shipping rules in the United States are controlled by the state you live in. We do not ship wine to the following states at this time:
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Kansas - Kentucky
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Maryland - Massachusetts
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Rhode Island - South Dakota
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List Updated 2/1/2023
Please inquire about international shipping.
Vintage Wine Merchants
377 Santana Row, Suite 1135
San Jose, CA 95128
408-260-1115
