New Year's Day 2013 Cali Pinot Blind Tasting
Tasted January 1, 2016 by Nanda with 514 views
Introduction
I invited a couple of friends over to taste through the new release Pinots from California in my cellar. The tasting featured wines from the Sonoma Coast, Anderson Valley and the Santa Cruz Mountains across seven producers.
My objective for the tasting was to take stock of the CA Pinot that I'm buying/accumulating and start to shape/edit where to focus my cellar going forward. I've been on many of these lists for 10ish years (Rhys, Kutch, Rivers Marie) and others for only a few years (Littorai, Ceritas, LIOCO, Wind Gap). Unfortunately, I'm allocated and accumulating too much California Pinot Noir -- so this was one snapshot from which to build a view into how I'll shape my future purchases. I fully recognize, of course, not to take make any hard and fast conclusions based on one tasting of very young wines -- but I was able to develop some working hypotheses:
1. I really like the Wind Gap pinots. I think this is only my second or third release buying the WG pinots. I actually haven't opened many of the SVD's but I do quite enjoy the Sonoma appellation bottling. Based on these two data points, I'll dig into a few others in the cellar to confirm I should double down.
2. Littorai deserves it's status as a benchmark California Pinot Noir. Despite the higher relative price tag, I won't be dropping this list anytime soon.
3. While I've only opened a small fraction of the Rhys Pinot Noir that I've accumulated, the wines are so consistent and of high quality that I'll stay the course on this list.
4. Rivers Marie and Kutch will remain stalwarts in my cellar as I've developed an affinity and comfort with those wines. They are quite different from one another but loving both is what makes this hobby great.
5. The jury is out on how much I enjoy Raytek's Pinot Noir. I love the Chardonnay at both Ceritas and LIOCO but I've yet to be as smitten with his Pinot Noir.
6. While we didn't have any appellation bottlings in the lineup, after tasting 12 SVDs together, I truly believe those appellation wines offer insane amounts of quality for the price point.
7. For all of these producers I need to figure out which vineyards/wines are my favorites so that I can build some focus/depth. There is just to much breadth in each producer's portfolio to go broad and deep.
Flight 1 - Welcome wines (2 notes)
A couple of starters to reset the palate.
White
2010 La Chablisienne Chablis Grand Cru Grenouilles Château Grenouilles
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru
Pop n' pour. Medium nose is a bit one dimensional with ripe-ish (for a Chablis anyway) green apple fruit with a suggestion of minerals. Palate is light-to-medium bodied with seashells, rain water and green apple. Bright with plenty of minerality and acidity. Young with upside.
White - Sparkling
N.V. H. Billiot Fils Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Julie Brut
France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru
Disgorged on Jan 2006. Bottle was open the night before, sealed and roughly a half bottle was served the next afternoon. Soaring full throttle nose is massively dense with earth tones (mushroom), orchard fruit and baked bread. Palate is dense and full bodied yet fresh, lively and luscious. A wonderful Champagne.
Flight 2 - Pinot Noir (12 notes)
Tasted single blind and listed in order of tasting. All wines were opened ~3 hours before we started the tasting which lasted a few hours.
Red
2013 Ceritas Pinot Noir Hacienda Secoya Vineyard
USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley
Served blind. Light translucent ruby. Attractive bright nose of cranberry, raspberry, florals with a pronounced herbal note. Lighter bodied with plenty of upfront acids. Red cherry fruit is lighter in nature and even a touch under-ripe, though not green or harsh. Light in the finish. Theres plenty of acid here but I could have used more fruit oomph. 13.6 ABV. Interesting evolution on day two -- the wine now has more fruit oomph achieving medium body. Also the fruit has taken on a sweeter profile. Still loads of acid. The precision isn't warranted but what the heck? 89 on day one. Up to a 91 on day two.
Red
2013 Kutch Pinot Noir McDougall Ranch
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
Pure ruby red. Bright and lifted nose -- aromatics of black cherry with a driving sexy Christmas spice note. Initially the palate shows medium body with plush fruit and juicy acidity. Sweeter fruit flavors and herbal stem notes. Good tart acids on the finish. Plenty of structure here. A re-taste 9+ hours after opening shows even more density and richness of the fruit while the acids are still juicy. 12.3 ABV. Wine is holding strong with perhaps a shade more complexity on day two.
Red
2013 Littorai Pinot Noir The Haven
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
Served blind. Translucent ruby. Nose is ethereal -- aromatics are lighter but enchanting and complex with red fruits and florals. On the palate his has terrific poise and balance. Moderately concentrated fruit just hangs on and on. So lifted and persistent. Keeps evolving in the mouth with red and black cherry, cranberry, raspberry and lots of spice. Drinking very well and quite generous at a young age. 12.6 ABV.
Red
2013 Lioco Pinot Noir Cerise Vineyard
USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley
Served blind. Translucent ruby. Medium nose has an array of aromas -- red cherry, stemmy herbs and spice. Palate initially has light-to-medium weight with cranberry and spice. A re-taste after 9 hours has more density and concentration with more prominent spice and wilder/darker fruit flavors. 12.7 ABV. No evolution or improvement on day two.
Red
2013 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Occidental Ridge Vineyard
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
Served blind. Bright ruby to crimson. A wow nose with penetrating, generous aromas of black cherry, rhubarb, spice, orange peel and just a suggestion of cola. Palate is lush with medium weight concentrated black cherry fruit. Lively and fresh and very long on the palate. Finishes with sweet, round fruit, orange peel and spice. A re-taste after 9 hours shows more of everything. Crazy generous and delicious. In a single blind lineup of 12 wines, this is the only wine I called based on the 'signature' orange peel note I find in RM pinots. 14.2 ABV. Less aromatic but the palate is unchanged on day two.
Red
2013 Wind Gap Wines Pinot Noir Sun Chase Vineyard
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
Served blind. Light to medium ruby. A gorgeous nose -- my first note is "yum". Complex and layered aromas show more red fruits (cranberry, cherry) with sexy stem notes of herb and spice. Palate is light-to-medium bodied and a bit unyielding. The flavors echo the nose. 13.5 ABV. On day two the palate is more generous and plush with moderate, chewy acidity -- nice black cherry fruit with plenty of underlying earth and herb/stem. Still good length and persistence.
Red
2013 Littorai Pinot Noir Cerise Vineyard
USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley
Served blind. The most earth-driven wine of the lineup. Nose has barnyard, earth, mushroom intermixed with red fruits. On the palate this is lighter bodied and even lean in it's fruit profile. Plenty of juicy acidity makes for a crisp and fresh texture. Earth tones dominate the flavor profile. An elegant wine. Didn't evolve much on a re-taste 9 hours later. 12.9 ABV. Day two has picked up some fruit intensity (light-to-medium body) and shows the same acid structure.
Red
2013 Lioco Pinot Noir Saveria Vineyard
USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains
Medium translucent ruby. Big nose is exotic and complex with tons of stem character integrated with red fruits. Adrian called beets, which was spot on. On the palate this has an intense initial attack with red fruit and an elixir that is like liquified stems. Really unique and interesting. The mid-palate is more thin and the wine seems to fade. A re-taste after 9 hours and the herbal/stemmy intensity has picked up but it still finishes thin. I'd love this wine if it had a little more fruit richness. Only 50% whole cluster, but shows a lot of stem. 12.3 ABV. Exact same on day two -- tasty and complex attack that fades into a thin mid-palate and finish.
Red
2013 Kutch Pinot Noir Falstaff Vineyard
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
Served blind. I'm not sure what to make of this wine it didn't show well in the line-up upon initial tasting or on a re-taste 9 hours later. Cloudy in the glass with light ruby color. Nose is fruit driven and a bit simple and one note with cranberry. On the palate this is very, very light and watery and short. Something seems off. Withholding any score. Re-tasted on day two (~20 hours after opening the bottle) and the wine hasn't changed/improved.
Red
2013 Wind Gap Wines Pinot Noir Amaya Ridge Vineyard
USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains
Served blind. Medium ruby. Gorgeous full, intense and complex nose delivers a lovely mix of black cherry, underbrush, pine, fresh cut herbs and spice. On the palate this has amazing depth of flavor. Medium-to-full bodied fruit with racy, juicy acidity. A real standout that's drinking well now with plenty of stuffing. Held up very nicely on a re-taste in the evening. 12.25 ABV. On day two, this still has that dizzying depth of flavor and seems to be even longer.
Red
2013 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard
USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains
Ruby color. Full generous nose offers black cherry, smoky herbs and baking spices. Medium-to-full bodied on the palate with good density of fruit. Black cherry fruit is accented with herbs, spice and cola notes. Lifted and persistent. Great polish. Long finish. 12.8 ABV. Held up nicely on night two and showed some chewy acids in the finish.
Red
2013 Ceritas Pinot Noir Elliott Vineyard
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
Translucent ruby. Full bright nose has cherry, rhubarb and an herbal kick. Medium weight palate has polished, smooth red fruits with moderate acidity that provides buoyancy and persistence to the riper, heavier fruit profile. 12.3 ABV. On day two, a bit lighter weight but with a similar friendly, approachable personality.
Closing
Thanks to Adrian and Keith for tasting along with me and offering their views on the wine. Drinking great wine with friends is a terrific way to ring in the new year.
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