The Wine

We are extremely proud to share our hand-crafted wine with you.  Our Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are made only from grapes that are grown in the Russian River appellation in Sonoma County. We have been fortunate to work with vineyards that express all this diverse growing area has to offer.  

Pinot Noir

Although each vintage can be dramatically different, we strive to showcase what the vineyard offers us through an interpretation that is entirely Romililly Wines. Ultimately, we craft wines that are fruit forward with complexities that develop due to our respect for balance. One defining characteristic of our Pinot Noir is its full and silky mouthfeel,while maintaining a level of acid that complements a meal. The employment of cooperage is important for us to attain the level of flavor and maturity of flavor we are looking for. Cooperage’s we have become confident in are Demptos, Louis Latour, DAMY, and Trust.

Russian River Pinot Noir

This wine is a blend of two  vineyards in the Russian River Valley. Since our first vintage in 2006 we have sourced from the Morelli Lane vineyard. The second vineyard  has been both, the Winkler vineyard in 2009 and 2011 and the Quail Hill vineyard in 2010. Generally this wine is cold soaked for 3-4 days and then inoculated with Assmanshausen yeast. The wine is punched down 1-3 times a day depending on temperature and extraction. Upon completion of fermentation the wine is pressed and barreled down to 1/3 new oak, 1/3 once used barrels and 1/3 neutral wood. Here the wine will go through malolactic fermentation and maturation, being bottled after 9-10 months. From this point the wine spends another 7-9 months in bottle before release.

Chardonnay

Chardonnay has many styles and has become ingrained in the California wine industry, well, we want our shot. We aim to create Chardonnay that is some what of a cameleon, having both qualities of the traditional California style and characteristics of the new self proclaimed restrained style. Starting with unique vineyards in cooler sites is the key to crafting our Russian River Chardonnay. Couple this with the right amount of oak treatment and malolactic fermentation you have Romililly Chardonnay.

Russian River Chardonnay

This wine is produced using grapes sourced from Lazy W Ranch on Westside Road in the Russian River Valley. The grapes are picked under lights in the early morning and brought to the winery at first light. Clusters are then hand sorted prior to pressing, limiting mold and unripe fruit. After a 2 day settling of the juice in stainless steel bullet tanks, barrel fermentation is used to add and integrated oak into the wine. 35% new DAMY barrels are employed during the fermentation period and then lowered to 17% during the ageing period, all other barrels are neutral. Upon completion of primary fermentation malolactic fermentation is kicked off and the wine is stirred and topped twice a month. Tasting the wine often allows for us to stop malolactic fermentation at the optimal level of acid/fruit balance. The wine is then filtered to maintain the desired level of malic acid in a stable manner. Once the desired amount of oak influence has been achieved the wine is bottled and released after a short period of bottle age. We are super excited about sharing a glass of this Chardonnay with you.

VINTAGES

Chardonnay 2011- Pre Order

Bottling has been pushed back to August 1st of 2012.  Tasting  the wine every two weeks has shown us it isn’t ready yet.  At only a 130 case production there is no need to rush it.  We would encourage you to pre-order to secure your allocation.

Pinot Noir 2010 – Pre Order

Set to release March 1st.  This wine is exactly why you purchase Romililly!  Our 2010 is a blend of Pommard-4 grown on a block from the Morelli Lane Vineyard blended with a mix of clones, 828, Swan, and Beba from Lynmar’s Quail Hill Vineyard.  Cherry, oak , and floral earth tones jump out of the glass leading into complex notes of spice, cranberries, and mushrooms.  The texture is all Romililly with a bit more tannin, adding to the structure and ageing potential.  We look forward to enjoying this wine while it develops over the next 5-8 years, starting in March!

2009 – Sold Out!

On July 20, we bottled our 2009 Pinot Noir vintage. You can see the photo of all the bottles. It was a long, but perfect day for winemaking. It was warm but with a cool light breeze coming in from the Pacific Ocean

The wine will be in bottles for about 8 months before it’s released. We are going to have a ceremonial Premiere Bottle Opening Party somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area. We’ll let you know where and when.

This turned out to be a beautiful year. With its lack of any significant highs or lows the fruit matured on the vine very evenly. 2009 had potential to be a heavy crop year, but our vineyards came in about 2 ton per acre, which was ideal.

2008 – Sold Out!

We bottled our 2008 vintage of Romililly in July of 2009, after 10 months of oak age.  For the 2008 Romililly we used mainly Pommard clones, with some 113 (Dijon Clone) and Beringer clones. This Pinot Noir is quite possibly our favorite yet.  We went a little lighter in style, but the flavor is through the roof.  The oak is beautifully balanced and the fruit, whereas lighter, opens into a sweet harmony of cherry, earth, and vanilla. This wine was released with 8 months of bottle age.  There are a few collectors with this vintage in their cellar and it will age nicely for about 8 – 10 years. We hope they call us in 10 years when they open those bottles, we’ve never been able to hold onto our wine that long! 350 case production.

2007 – Sold Out

Unfiltered, it is a blend of 3 Pinot clones (113, Beringer, and Pommard 5) from the Morelli Lane Vineyard. The vineyard is managed by Dutton Ranch, a premium grower in the Russian River.  Morelli is located at a higher elevation than many of the other Russian River vineyards. This means slightly cooler temperatures with just a touch more sun. The soil type is Sandy Loam, and the vines were planted in 1995.  The wine was fermented in open top vats, then put into 33% new French oak to age for 10 months.

Pinots from this vintage are looking GREAT.   We knew this was going to be a stellar year, when early barrel tasting blew us away.  Pinot is a great wine to cellar, so I imagine it will get nothing but better as is matures in the bottle.  It is chalked full of ripe fruit, while maintaining its complexity. 300 cases produced

2006 – Sold Out

The 2006 Pinot is from the Russian River. It was picked ripe (~25.5 brix) for big fruit character. This wine is rich and complex.  There is big fruit and a long, smooth finish.  The mouth feel is rich and balanced.  This wine will compliment just about any meal…. It has the acid to cut fat, and the fruit and mouth feel to compliment any meal from light, elegant  dishes, to “bigger” dishes, and sauces.

The 2006 vintage was released in March 2007.  There were only 200 cases produced (Unfiltered).