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118 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 In the winery, Heredia shares in Farrell's philosophy that earlier picks create better expressions of place and varietal charac - ter. Yet her experience at both Freestone and Domaine de Montille in Beaune have shaped her personal approach in the cellar, where she continues to experiment with new techniques. "I like to pick earlier on the ripeness spectrum and capture a greater sense of place. But that means I have to do a little more work in the winery to capture that texture," explains Heredia. To achieve that desired structure with Chardonnay, she dialed in the pressing program depend - ing on berry size. She also incorporates a great deal of bâtonnage to build the tex- ture. "There's an oily, lemony quality that I like to call 'lemony persistence,' and that's definitely something that I'm looking for," says Heredia. With Pinot Noir, Heredia has transi - tioned GFW from their core of medium- toast barrels to predominantly light-toast barrels. "I love light toast barrels with Pinot," she says, "The light toast really respects the fruit and supports all of that essence that we're looking for." She's also incorporating greater amounts of whole-cluster, depend - ing on the vineyard site, as well as extended macerations (a technique traditionally seen with Cabernet Sauvignon). "During extended maceration, the more primary, fruity esters end up evolving into more complex esters, and spices come out from the stems. You get more essence from the skins themselves and some tannins from the skins and seeds," she explains. While some wineries choose to approach their different vineyards with a "house style" or recipe, at Gary Farrell Winery, every vineyard lot is treated indi - vidually to preserve the essence of that site. "I prefer to make wines with great site-specificity," says Heredia. "They have a consistent style within them—they're acid- driven, food-friendly wines—but they are also really expressive of the place." HALLBERG VINEYARD We arrived at Hallberg Vineyard dur- ing golden hour on a warm June evening to meet with Kirk Lokka, the renowned Vineyard Manager for Emeritus Vineyards. Lokka, who has been in the business for nearly four decades, planted the 115-acre, all–Pinot Noir vineyard between 1999 to 2001. Located in the Green Valley sub-AVA, it's one of the largest parcels on the ridge that sits on top of the hallowed, well- drained Goldridge soil. "Because the Goldridge soil varies in depth, where it's deeper, the fruit tends to be lighter—towards the cherry side. Then over where the soils tend to be lighter, we have the Sebastopol series clay loam, and they tend to be plummier," says Lokka. Gary Farrell Winery gets a total of seven blocks from Hallberg, two of which were picked out by Farrell in 2004 and contain clone 777 from two very different soil types on the property. "They couldn't be more different," says Heredia. In 2008, the vineyard began dry farming which required some patience in the first two years. Lokka noticed that with dry farming, "We're reaching phenologically more mature flavors at lower Brix." A result that's ideal for Heredia who prefers to pick earlier to better express the site. OLIVET LANE VINEYARD In 1973, Bob Pellegrini, whose family founded the original Pellegrini Wine Co in the 1930s, purchased a 70-acre apple and plum orchard with the intent to plant grapes. The family worked with U.C. Davis, who suggested they plant Chardonnay. "I'd been to Burgundy the year before and I thought, 'Well, that's a no-brainer, we'll just do something on a Burgundian model,' not knowing the trials and tribulations of what we'd be going through," recalls Pellegrini. They planted two-thirds Chardonnay and one-third Pinot Noir. "Everybody in those days said great Pinot Noir will never be made in America. It's not possible. And I'd say for the first seven or eight years we thought they were right," he laughs. The old-vine Chardonnay (Wente selection) that Gary Farrell Winery receives makes for tiny clusters and small berries that take on a racy, mineral driven, lemon oil quality that stands out among the lineup. "[Heredia's] done a marvelous job," says Pellegrini, "I don't need to tell you that Gary Farrell Winery went through a lot of changes but there's some real stability now. They've really hit their stride in the last few years here." An old truck lays its claim in the Rochioli Vineyard. The Vineyards