Littorai 30th Anniversary Dinner - Los Angeles

30th Anniversary dinner at Marea with Ted and Heidi Lemon of Littorai. While the wines of Littorai are obviously great enough to stand by their own, the personal side of the winery is perhaps one of the most distinctive and inspiring stories in the Sonoma Coast.

• 2013 Littorai Chardonnay Charles Heintz Vineyard 92 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Part of the first flight and served alongside a 2011 Mays Canyon Chardonnay, this Heintz was absolutely stunning. There is still very dense fruit and beautiful acidity that refreshes the palate on every sip. Slightly more acid driven than the Mays, with lemon zest and white flowers on the palate.
  
  Despite the age of both of these Chardonnays - they were both still a pale straw yellow - no signs of advanced oxidation or aging here and clearly wines that can still age for a while, but beautifully expressive already.

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• 2011 Littorai Chardonnay Mays Canyon 92 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  Served alongside a 2013 Charles Heintz Chardonnay in the same flight, this was relatively richer with a very silky smooth texture - buttery, almost like lemon oil served with brunch during the summer. Again, as with the 2013 Charles Heintz Chardonnay, the color was still incredibly youthful with no visual signs of oxidation/aging. A true testament to the age-ability of Littorai Chardonnays.

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• 2018 Littorai Pinot Noir One Acre 95 Points

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  The wine of the night at the 30th anniversary dinner for me. The tannins here are impossibly velvety, soft, and delicate. Intense rose petals in the initial few sips, and after some time in the glass, more notes of fig came through with some earl grey. Despite the young age, the tannins are already beautifully integrated and this is wide open for business.
  
  Heidi also agreed that this was probably her wine of the evening, and she made a remark that One Acre is probably her favorite vineyard and is a very special place for them. Ted commented that this wine is designated "PMG" - a term used by French winemakers (pour ma gout, or for my throat), meaning a wine that winemakers will hold back for personal consumption. I can absolutely see that too...

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• 2016 Littorai Pinot Noir Block E Wendling Vineyard 91 Points

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  Despite being the older of the two wines in the flight (2018 One Acre being the other wine), this showed as more in the awkward phase and probably could use a little more age. Stronger notes of black fruit and earthy undertones here. Ted described this as an adolescent going through its phases, and Heidi best described it as "mostly elbows and knees right now" which feels very accurate for the awkward lankiness of this wine. They also pointed out these are probably the youngest vines they work with (Block E which they source from Wendling was relatively younger vines with 2015 being the first vintage), so time will definitely help (both with vine age, and also bottle age).

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• 2014 Littorai Pinot Noir B. A. Thieriot Vineyard 92 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Ted described the 2014 vintage as very shy to begin with, and he had concerns about how it would age, but as time went on, he mentioned that the bottles gained complexity and filled out very well. Compared to the 2012 Roman served in the flight, he thinks that the 2014's will outlive the 2012's.
  
  Hints of pepper, spice, with some mushroom/tangerine on the palate. Ted describes the common theme of the '14 vintage to be spice/Christmas cake in nature which is quite apparent here.

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• 2012 Littorai Pinot Noir Roman Vineyard 92 Points

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  Served alongside 2014 Thieriot Vineyard Pinot Noir, Ted noted (and consistent with my previous note) that the 2012's are wide open for business now and probably ones that should be drank rather sooner than later. Due to the soil composition here which has more clay/sandstone relative to their other sites, the nose here is quite distinctive, with more blackberry and plum on the palate.

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• 2009 Littorai Pinot Noir Cerise Vineyard 93 Points

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  Still showing incredibly youthful at this point, plenty of fruit (persimmon?) with hints of mushroom and balsamic, but a beautiful bouquet on the nose that showed very well. There are absolutely no signs of decline here so as long as you have stored these bottles properly, they could easily last (and be delicious for) another 10-15 years at a minimum. Served next to a 1996 Hirsch Pinot Noir.

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• 1996 Littorai Pinot Noir Hirsch Vineyard 93 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Served alongside a 2009 Cerise Pinot Noir - this wine is quite incredible for its age. Absolutely no bricking and still a beautiful hue of dark purple (surprisingly structured) which Ted also made reference to. Ted explained that he initially was quite concerned about the '96 vintage, which he didn't believe to be a good vintage and that he had originally recommended to the mailing list to drink that vintage young. Clearly (and unsurprisingly) he proved himself wrong, and this bottle is still very much vibrant and alive with beautiful secondary and tertiary notes.
  
  This wine generated a lot of discussion - when Ted talked about the '96 vintage being a challenge in Sonoma, the sommelier at Marea also talked about the 2011 vintage in Napa being similarly challenging, but eventually producing some of his favorite wines. When vintage conditions are challenging, the good producers rise above and truly can still produce great wines (obviously barring issues such as smoke taint, etc.). Not to say that when the vintage is great (such as '23 in Sonoma/Napa), everyone produces great wines, but the differentiating factor of a good winemaker and a not so great winemaker is perhaps the greatest in these "challenging" vintages.

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• 2008 Littorai Chardonnay Charles Heintz Vineyard 93 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  The final wine of the evening that was served alongside the cheese course. This was a particularly interesting choice for Ted and he explained that he thought this vintage showed traits that would pair particularly well with dessert and I can see why. Compared to the 2013 Charles Heintz Chardonnay that was paired with the first course, this wine basically feels like a popcorn bucket (in the best way possible). Tropical but somewhat ripe, this leans more towards the richer side without being flabby. I asked Ted why there was such a contrast between this '08 versus the '13 and he explained that there wasn't any change in the oak regimen and that the stark difference was likely a result of the degree of fruit/acid interplaying with malolactic (everything went through full malo). The '08 seemingly had potentially slightly less fruit/acid which allows the malo to express itself more, but still not overpowering everything else. Such an interesting contrast!

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There are very few wineries in Sonoma that has such a deep cellar of library gems and it is truly such an honor to get to experience these wines at different phases in their lives. Everything was truly excellent and any comparisons are truly from a personal preference standpoint, but the quality of these wines are just astounding.