In my
recent career, since around 1990, I've made many hundreds of thousands
of cases of Bordeaux variety wines. There have been dozens of separate
bottlings of Cabernet, Merlot and various blends. With all that volume
some people are surprised I'm making Pinot Noir, but I've had a hand in
Pinot Noir for a long time and it has been one of my favorites from the
beginning. In fact I started making wine in 1980 at a little winery in
the Russian River Valley and almost all we made was Pinot Noir. We
didn't have fruit of the quality available these days though. Only a rumor in those days were the Dijon
clones, the diverse collection of individual Pinot Noir genotypes that has supplanted the inferior parts of the California Pinot gene pool. Virus-free vines, low-vigor rootstocks, carefully planned trellises and vineyard layouts have all contributed to radically improved fruit. The resulting wines had to get better, even if the huge advances in crush equipment, barrels and winemaking methods hadn't happened.
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2009 Pinot Noir, La Cruz Vineyard, Sonoma Coast
In 2009 we purchased two small lots of beautiful Pinot Noir from the Keller family in the Sonoma Coast's Petaluma Gap. The Keller Estate's La Cruz vineyard is carefully planted up and over a hillside in the Petaluma Gap, a windy, chilly southwestern corner of the Sonoma Coast appellation. We chose rows in the El Coro blocks, atop the highest ridge of the estate, and facing east to catch the morning sunlight and escape the hot afternoon heat. The wine is composed approximately equally of clones 115 and 777 and shows a pretty combination of the two. Cold-soak and native yeast fermentation were followed by very gentle pressing and malolactic fermentation in the barrels. During the last six months in barrels the wine was racked with a tiny amount of bentonite and isinglass to settle out the haze. The wine was bottled unfiltered on April 27, 2011.
100 cases produced
$35 per bottle
$420 per case
2008 Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
The
2008 vintage
is from the same vineyard as the 2007. Spring frosts severely nipped the tender new shoots, taking many of the young fruit clusters, and reduced the vineyard's yield by more than 50%. The grapes were harvested late but the wine showed the same supple, delicate character we found in the 2007.
200 cases produced
2007 Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
The 2007 vintage
is from Dijon clones 115 and 777, and some of the venerable Pommard
that was a genetic superstar in Russian River Valley's early days,
grown
in the King family's small vineyard off Piner Road in west Santa Rosa.
Ben and Carla King's vineyard is very ably farmed by Lee Martinelli and
family, with guidance from Daniel Roberts of Integrated Winegrowing.
We cold-soaked the ripe fruit for a week while the native yeast slowly
took over, eventually warmed up the must and completed the
fermentation. After a very gentle pressing it completed malolactic
fermentation, again uninoculated, in
a mix of used and new barrels from a couple of my favorite Burgundian
coopers. It was fined very lightly with a little fresh egg whites to sculpt the tannins and remove the last bit of haze before bottling unfiltered. The wine has complex dark berry fruit and supple, seamless
structure.
200 cases produced
2006 Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
This wine is from four different Dijon clones, 114, 115, 667 and 777, grown in a small vineyard off Olivet Lane in west Santa Rosa. It was aged in a mix of used and new barrels from a couple of my favorite Burgundian coopers and bottled unfined and unfiltered. It is not in the over-ripe, syrupy fruit bomb style popular with some. It is silky, complex and delicious though.
188 cases produced
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2006 vintage:
89 One Puff Connoisseur's Guide to California Wine
"attractive mix of fruit, oak and flowers is reiterated in the composed flavors that follow. Nicely balanced and very smooth ..."
88 Wine & Spirits April 2009 Year's Best
(Best Buy) A full-bodied pinot noir with wild raspberry flavor ..... "
SEE COMPLETE REVIEWS OF ALL WINES >>
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