1988-2004 Dehlinger Estate Pinots Blindtasted
Tom's House, Palo Alto, CA
Tasted Thursday, April 9, 2009 by rjonwine@gmail.com with 472 views
Introduction
Introductory comments by tasting organizer, Ross Bott:
Tom Dehlinger begin his vinous life as a winegrower in the early 1970s. He acquired a parcel of land near the corner of Guerneville Road and Laguna Road in the southern half of the Russian River Valley. He initially chose to plant it with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc, expanding this to Syrah and a bit of Merlot in the late 1980s. Over the years, it has become clear that it is a great location for Pinot in particular, but he has persevered in producing Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, with the former getting rave reviews and the latter often unjustly underappreciated. In recent vintages, his cool climate Syrahs are starting to get a lot of attention, but Dehlinger remains first and foremost a world class Pinot maker.
When he first began releasing Pinot Noir in the mid-80s, he produced one Estate bottling. Beginning in 1990 he added a Reserve, and i991 and 92, he experimented with two Reserves, one slightly filtered (as with earlier vintages) and the other stamped with a red "U" for unfiltered. It became clear that the latter produced a wine with more depth, complexity, and ageability, so not filtering became the norm beginning in 1993. In all vintages, he does a rigid selection of the best grapes, often selling off as much of half his crop to other wineries and keeping only the best grapes.
In 1994, Dehlinger first began to separate his Estate bottling into two, introducing the Goldridge as his first single vineyard Pinot release. The Goldridge Vineyard has a sandier soil base and produces a more forward wine, ready to drink sooner. In principle, it is supposed to have somewhat less ageability than the Estate bottling, but in practice the oldest vintages are aging as well as the Estates and Reserves, and are if anything slightly more Burgundian.
Robert Parker "discovered" him in 1996, and this, combined a focus on much lower yields and higher concentration, has drastically changed how the winery operates. Dehlinger used to have a great tasting room and sell much of their wine to a loyal following by futures. In the past few years, all their wines are in such demand that futures are no longer offered, and tight allocations are given to mailing list customers and selected restaurants in California only. Initially, Quiet, unassuming, and very modest despite his increasing fame, Tom looks much younger than than his sixtyish age. Initially, he seemed almost nonplussed by this new-found success (and riches); he seemed to prefer the closeness to the "family" of customers he had in the old days. The price of fame...
Tonight we'll have a retrospective on his Estate bottlings, going back to one of his first great ones in 1988 and including the outstanding 1994 which caused all of the hoopla and eventually closed the winery to the public. We'll also have a collection of his recent vintages, where he continues to go from strength to strength.
Flight 1 - Dehlinger Chard starter (1 Note)
Flight 2 - My TNs and group scoring (8 Notes)
2006 Dehlinger Chardonnay 93 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
Light medium canary yellow color; nice floaty tart lemon, sea air and lime cream nose; tasty, tart ripe grapefruit, lemon, lime cream, mineral palate, very youthful yet, with good acidity; medium-plus finish
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