The heart of the Parmelee-Hill property sits on a knoll that faces the Sonoma Valley to the East and San Pablo Bay to the South. The climate is typical of coastal influenced areas. Morning fog retreats during warming midday hours. The warmth is commonly broken however by intense afternoon ocean winds that quickly drop the temperature. The fog sometimes retreats only as far as the Western hills until it blows back overhead fairly early in the afternoon. This type of climate tends to be self-restricting, resulting in naturally low-yielding vines producing fruit with intense flavor.Aromas: perfume, floral, honeysuckle, citrus
Body: full
Color: pale gold
From their website: What a wonderful wine. This may be our finest accomplishment to date. Named after our daughter, Darcy Hill Merritt, who you will often see at tastings.
Winemaker comments: Rich and pale gold in color with green highlights. The nose is perfumey and floral with honeysuckle and a hint of lemon lime plus pear and stone fruit, slightly mineral or stony. A floral and lively palate, rich tropical fruit including nectarine and melon, full bodied, balanced, lush fruit finish. 125 cases produced.
Our fruit is hand-picked at night for better quality; Experienced crews are the backbone of the success at Parmelee-Hill. Nothing other than the cleanest, ripest fruit will make it from the field to the winery. We attempt to harvest as much as possible at night when the fruit is colder and is both truer in sugar content and more resistant to being battered and split during harvest. The boxes are stacked and hauled to the winery where they are dumped and sorted by hand. The end results are whole intact clusters that look much the same as when they were hanging on the vine.
We only crush about 10 tons of fruit for our own use. The largest lot crushed is 2.5 tons, and most lots are harvested in one ton increments. This technique is tough on the farmer (us) however allows Don to source fruit from different blocks to come up with the ultimate field blend for our finished product. We also now have the advantage of experimenting in the vineyard with different practices and tasting the end product to continue to try and increase the quality of the fruit we grow.
Eat with: goat cheese sampler, three selections of local & imported artisan goat cheese, seasonal fruit & baguette
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