After graduating from U.C. Davis and working a short stint in production for Gallo, Matt Kinne became assistant winemaker for California Pinot Noir pioneer, Hanzell, in the early 1980s. From there, due to his Pinot passion, Matt moved to Oregon establishing his own winery and vineyard with his wife Holly in 1987. The couple eschews marketing, preferring to dedicate their energy to producing the finest quality Pinot Noirs possible. This wine is a blend of primarily younger estate vines with some old estate vines grown in volcanic clay soils in the Chehalem Mountains AVA. Their winemaking philosophy includes extremely low yields (1 - 1.5 tons per acre, whereas 4 tons is average) and minimal intervention winemaking. The grapes are destemmed and given 6-8 days of pre-soak with 22-25 total days in fermenters. The wine is then aged 9 months in 5-to-15-year-old French oak that will not impart any flavor or tannins and is lightly filtered at bottling.