The Haynes Vineyard We were fortunate to have a close relationship with both the owner and the manager of the four-decade-old Haynes Vineyard in the Napa Valley. Westwood produced a Haynes Pinot bottling continuously from 1985 through 2005. Due to the declining health of the vines, owner Duncan Haynes decided to pull our block in 2006. Located on gently sloping gravelly benchlands on the east side of the valley near the town of Coombsville, the Haynes Vineyard has a temperate exposure: less windy than the Carneros region and slightly warmer than the Russian River Valley. In this climate, the grapes attain a developed flavor and ripeness not found in Pinot Noir grown elsewhere. The scion wood for the Haynes Vineyard came from one of the first Pinot Noir plantings in the Napa Carneros - it is generally believed that Louis Martini brought this budwood directly from the great vineyards in the heart of Burgundy. At Haynes the vines were grafted onto phylloxera-tolerant Rupestris St. George rootstock - deep-rooted on a well-drained, gravelly soil. The vines were spaced at the old California standard of 8 feet by 12 feet and pruned annually to two canes and four spurs. Despite its age the vineyard was reasonably healthy, yielding between one and three tons per acre with little irrigation during the years we purchased the Haynes fruit. Fernando Delgado, the manager of the Haynes Vineyard, had overseen the care and feeding of these vines for the last thirty years. Our long relationship with him offered us several advantages, such as being able to pick from the same particular rows in the vineyard year after year. We were able to learn the character of the fruit, and to produce a wine of amazing consistency from vintage to vintage. Typically we drained and pressed the Haynes Pinot directly to French oak barrels for two years of aging on primary lees - no racking until bottling - and then raised the wine further for two years in bottle before release. It never ceased to amaze us how this otherwise elegant Pinot could incorporate whatever amount of new oak we threw at it without the wood dominating the aroma or the palate. The proportion of new oak in the mix of barrels we used for aging the Haynes Pinot ranged from 33% to 80% depending on the vintage. The wines we produced from the Haynes Pinot fruit show aromas and flavors of black cherry and cola, with hints of eucalyptus - some say strong hints. There are large old acacias around the property, so this is not all that surprising (our winemaker thinks it is the pollen). As the wine ages it typically reveals coffee, caramel, leather and barnyard characters - not unlike some of the great red Burgundies. The Westwood Haynes Vineyard Pinot Noir is an acquired taste - instantly and enthusiastically acquired by those blessed, never acquired by those pitiable souls doomed to their own eternities in plonk-wine hell. To our dismay but not to our surprise, following the 2006 vintage owner Duncan Haynes decided to pull and replant the section of his vineyard Westwood had purchased fruit from for 22 vintages. Our winemaker has to reincarnated the budwood at our Annadel Estate Vineyard. However, we cannot duplicate the unique soil and climate of the Haynes Vineyard, which is now lost to us forever.

We have been able to learn the character of the fruit, and to produce a wine of amazing consistency from vintage to vintage. Westwood bottled a Haynes Pinot Noir from 1985 through 2005. available from The Haynes Vineyard all wines from The Haynes Vineyard select another vineyard The Sunny Oak VineyardThe Annadel Estate Vineyard

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