2007 Siduri California Pinot Blindtasting (and more)
Palo Alto, California
Tasted Thursday, November 6, 2008 by rjonwine@gmail.com with 971 views
Introduction
The Palo Alto/Los Altos Area Blindtasting Group, which meets twice a week for focused blindtastings (and has been doing so for over 30 years), was joined on November 6 by a periodic guest and participant, Siduri and Novy winemaker and owner Adam Lee. Adam brought with him eight of his highly anticipated 2007 California Pinots for the group's blindtasting and comments, along with his '06 Novy Nebbiolo and an '07 Oregon Pinot as pre-tasting wines. Ross Bott, organizer of these events for the past 28 years, also brought a fun selection of pre- and post-wines. In all, we tasted 18 wines that evening, but only ranked and tallied results on the eight '07 Siduri California Pinots, as those were our primary focus for the evening.
It is always great to have winemakers on hand for these tastings (and the group on a regular basis includes a few people who are involved in making wine). Adam is particularly popular with our group, not only because many of us have collected Siduri and Novy over the years (and regularly attend the Siduri open houses), but also because of Adam's breadth of experience and great candidness in sharing his experience as well as his reactions to his own wines.
Adam Lee, on the far right:
Flight 1 - 1st Pre-Tasting Flight (3 Notes)
We started with Adam's pre-tasting wines. I was very impressed with the Nebbiolo, and found it to be more characterful and interesting than other California Nebbiolos I've tried. The '07 Muirfield Pinot struck me as a solid effort from a challenging Oregon vintage. The dry Rieussec was poured blind, but several of us were guessing a mature Semillon based wine.
Overflow crowd for the tasting:
Flight 2 - 2nd Pre-Tasting Flight (Old Zin) (3 Notes)
Ross poured this flight blind. Many of us were guessing that one or more of them were old Zins. Sure enough, that's what they were, including a couple of fairly rare late harvest bottlings. The '75 Mount Veeder was, I thought, aging the most gracefully of the three; the high alcohol level on the late harvests caused them to be both port-like and a little hot on the palate.
Flight 3 - '07 Siduri California Pinots (8 Notes)
Group's top 4 Pinots:
Group's bottom 4 rankings:
I had tasted a couple of these already at the Pinot on the River Weekend, but had trouble picking the ones I'd already tasted out of this line up. Adam reported that he was having a little trouble picking out which was which as well. The group's favorite was the Sonatera Sonoma Coast, but I ranked it close to the bottom mainly because its flavor profile--ripe black cherry, cola and charcoal--wasn't as appealing to me as some of the other, more classic, higher acid Pinots in the line up. My favorite, and the group's 4th ranked wine, was the Keefer Ranch, which I appreciated for its relative complexity, depth and minerality, already showing at this young stage. The Keefer Ranch actually received more first place votes--6--but fewer 2nd place votes than the Sonatera, Sapphire Hill or Rosella's. Adam told us that the Keefer fruit includes six different clones, including 23, Pommard and 115, which they ferment separately before blending.
Adam's favorite was the Garys' Vineyard, which was last for me and 5th for the group. Garys' is one clone--the Pisoni selection--on 2 rootstocks. To add to its complexity, Adam used 40% whole cluster. The group's 2nd ranked wine (my sixth) was the Rosella's. The Sapphire Hill came in 3rd for the group, and for me. Adam told us that it consists of 3 Dijon clones, and that it is a particularly difficult vineyard to work with because of the 5C rootstock used, which tends to "shut down" unless watered and babied on a regular basis. Adam used 77% new French oak, a high proportion for him, on the Sapphire Hill.
Toward the bottom of the group's rankings, #6 (my #2) was the Clos Pepe. The Clos Pepe fruit is also from a single clone, and Adam reported that he and his team try a lot of techniques to give it more complexity, such as using 20% whole cluster. I found it very big and approachable, like a Pisoni, but Adam commented that it was "not quite as slutty as in the past." The group's #7 (my #5, and Adam's last ranked wine) was the Sonoma Coast, Siduri's entry level Pinot, which seems like a great value to me at only $20. This year the bulk of the Sonoma Coast blend fruit came from Van der Kamp (29 barrels), with another 19 barrels from Sapphire Hill and five from Amber Ridge. Coming in last for the group (4th for me), was the Hirsch. The 30% whole cluster was noticeable on this one from the earthy, green and dill notes. The Hirsch fruit is from old Pommard and Mount Eden clones, fermented together.
Adam reported that 2007 was probably best of all in the Russian River, but also very good in Santa Lucia Highlands and Santa Rita Hills. He felt, however, that '99 was the best year in SLH and that '01 was the best year in SRH.
I thought this was a strong group of recently bottled '07 Pinots, and I look forward to their development in the bottle, and to trying the rest of Adam's '07 line up at the Siduri/Novy Open House on December 6.
Flight 4 - Post-tasting Sweeties (4 Notes)
While it is unusual for us to have quite so many wines for one of these weeknight blindtastings, the four final wines that Ross poured blind for us certainly added to the celebratory feel of the evening. It was pretty clear that the first wine was a mature German Riesling, that the 2nd two were Sauternes and there was no mistaking the Port. I loved the complexity and depth of the von Hovel, and while the Port has decades of development ahead of it, I thought it was already starting to drink quite well. The Doisy-Daene lacked the acidity I want from a Sauternes, and the Liot (a Chateau I'm not familiar with) had some intriguing and unusual flavors, along with decent acidity.
Closing
Many thanks to Adam for sharing his '07s and insights with us; to Ross, as always, for his unflagging organizing, and wine collecting activities; and to Tom, for sharing his home with us.
2006 Novy Family Wines Nebbiolo Stolpman Vineyard 89 Points
USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley
Light cranberry red color with pale meniscus; floral, bright, spicy plum and dried red fruit nose; tight, tart plum, cranberry, with orange acidity, a little hot, with more character than other California Nebbiolos I've tried; medium finish
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2007 Siduri Pinot Noir Muirfield Vineyard 90 Points
USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley
Light rose color with pale meniscus; roses, bramble nose with appealing green note; soft, earthy, cherry and spice palate with green note; medium finish
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1984 Château Rieussec R 91 Points
France, Bordeaux
Medium golden yellow color; waxy, sweet butter and lemon nose; solid, tangy, citrus, vanilla and mineral palate with Semillon showing; medium finish
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