Gros Ventre: Keeping Cool in California

4/5/16 -

Chris Pittenger of Gros Ventre was a gifted baseball player in a previous life; however, he took a viticulture course during his freshman year at Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo, and subsequently caught the wine bug. 

After college Chris worked in a couple of bottle shops before moving to Jackson Hole, WY to work in restaurants as a sommelier (while, not coincidentally, taking advantage of the local snowboarding). Yearning to find another way to connect with his customers through wine, he decided to pursue winemaking, working at various estates in the Napa  Valley (Robert Biale - 2003; Williams Selyem - 2004 and 2005), New Zealand (Kim Crawford and St. Clair - Spring 2004), Australia (Torbeck - 2005), returning to California (Marcassin - 2006), before being hired as the winemaker at Skinner Vineyards in the Sierra Foothills in 2007.

At his day job at Skinner, Chris works with mostly Rhône varieties. Looking for a side project to call his own, in 2009 he established Gros Ventre, which is devoted exclusively to Pinot Noir. Gros Ventre, which roughly translates to "large belly" in French, was so named in homage to the Gros Ventre River in Jackson Hole and also to his then-pregnant wife, Sarah. Pittenger sources his Pinot Noir from four distinct cool climate sources, two in Sonoma Coast (Campbell Ranch and Fort Ross-Seaview), and one each in Russian River (Baranoff Vineyard), and Anderson Valley (Cerise Vineyard). Each vineyard takes advantage of either high elevation or proximity to the coast. These relatively cool climate sites are conducive to slower ripening and lower yields, which result in more intense fruit flavors and higher natural acidity.

Chris is close friends with most of the growers and vineyard managers he sources grapes from; this mutual respect and friendship, along with their meticulous attention to detail in the vineyard, further reinforces the wine's connection with site. All vineyards are sustainably farmed (Baranoff is farmed organically; Cerise biodynamically); the wines are fermented with native yeasts, spend time on the gross lees before racking, and are bottled unfined and unfiltered.

At the West Sonoma Coast Wines trade show in early February, Chris Pittenger's Gros Ventre Pinot Noirs were standouts among a field of precocious wines. Balanced and nuanced, fruit-forward yet savory, each of his wines were truly expressive of site, style, and vintage.  Chris Pittenger is definitely a winemaker in California to watch. Enjoy (and drink) the 2012s and 2013s now, since production of his wines is extremely limited! Jonas Mendoza