La Cruz Release Heralds New Appellation

We recently released our latest Pinot Noir made exclusively for members of our Pinot Noir Program. The 2007 Pinot Noir - La Cruz Vineyard, Sonoma Coast marks the first wine we have made from this wonderful appellation.

La Cruz Vineyard sits right on the Petaluma River and is comprised of two distinct sections. These sections are further divided into blocks based upon varietal and clone (in the case of Pinot Noir). The upper portion of the site is called the El Coro block and is comprised of very light, infertile soil, while the lower block is alluvial soil from the river...much darker, heavier, and fertile than El Coro. The photograph to the right shows El Coro block soil along with bird netting that is held together by plastic spoons.

In 2006 we harvested only Dijon clone 115 but got it from both vineyard sections. We vinified each section separately then blended them before release. The photo below and to the left shows the distinctly light brown soil of the El Coro Block.

This wine is distinctly different in weight, aromatics, and flavors than any other Pinot we have made. While our main source of fruit (the Santa Lucia Highlands) is generally characterized by dark raspberry fruit notes and significant mid-palate viscosity, the La Cruz wine is much more an amalgam of rose petals, blood orange with a transparency in the mouth that shows off the very clean, expansive acid line of the wine.

In the future we hope to have a couple more sites from this appellation so that we have wines to share both with club members and Tasting Room guests. For the time being, however, if you would like to get a couple of bottles of this wonderful wine, we'd like to invite you to join our club.

Terrific Wine, Better People

I had the occasion to taste at Testarossa Vineyards today after having visited Ridge Winery earlier in the day for their 2008 Monte Bello assemblage event. I have enjoyed the Testarossa wines quite a lot (their 2005 Pinot Noir, Sleepy Hollow Vineyard was stunning) and have been up to their tasting room only once before.

The team there, led by Jeffery Marino, the Tasting Room Manager, could not have been nicer and more generous.

The thing that most tasting room teams share, and what the Testarossa folks have in spades, is a love of wine. Apparently, quite a lot of them had had some of our Pinots in the past (I think I have Bob Zamorra, a great wine lover in his own right, who works both for us and Testarossa, to thank for that!) and liked them. And being as passionate and as generous as they are, they allowed me to taste some wines that have not been released yet or that were part of their library.

The 2006 Chardonnay, La Cruz Vineyard and 2007 Chardonnay, Sleepy Hollow Vineyard were both stunning. They were outshone, however, by the 2006 Diana's Reserve Chardonnay that is a blend of the finest barrels from each of the vineyards from which they source fruit.

On the Pinot Noir side, the 2006 Pinot Noir, La Cruz Vineyard was gorgeous (another tie-in: our 2007 La Cruz Vineyard will be released very soon) as was the 2007 Sleepy Hollow.

More info about the winery can be found at www.testarossa.com. Tell the great team there, that we sent you!

Beauty and the Beast

It was the end of a working day last week, and I wandered into my wine cellar in the garage looking for a bottle of Pinot.

From the 2005 vintage, we had produced a number of very small (some only a single barrel) offerings and will have 11 separate single-barrel releases in 2009. Anyway, I found a bottle of one of the 2005 wines wedged behind some Cabernet.

The 2005 Pinot Noir - Mission Ranch, Pommard clone is both beautiful and ugly simultaneously.

Shortly after I acquired the La Rochelle brand from my cousins, we decided to change the packaging to more clearly delineate what we wanted La Rochelle to be. Before our current label design (created by Nick McNeill), we developed a new look that was just horrendous. The picture to the right shows the abomination (kids, this is why you leave the label design to the pros!).

The wine inside the bottle was wonderful. Explosive aromatically (fresh raspberry and cranberry fruit, spice from barrel), the wine had a beautiful, silky mid-palate, open fruit flavors, and great acidity. I had it with roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and corn. Yum score = 100.

Beautiful labels, do not guarantee delicious wine, and - thankfully enough, in this case - the ugly ones don't also describe the wine inside.

2006 Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz Mountains Released

While single-vineyard wines make up the backbone of our Pinot Noir Program (in fact, we will release a wine from the Deer Park Vineyard from Santa Cruz Mountains for the wine club later in the year), our appellation wines boast a complexity and deliciousness that typify our best offerings.

Grapes have been grown in the Santa Cruz Mountains since the 1850s with Pinot Noir a growing contributor to the overall acreage planted in the appellation, especially recently. Unlike other more hill-challenged appellation, many of the vineyards in this appellation are small, the average size (according to John Haeger in his seminal book North American Pinot Noir) being just 11 acres.

The Deer Park Vineyard provides the vast majority of fruit for this offering with the San Vicente Vineyard adding the last few percent. This wine is dramatic, imbued with wonderfully intense dark-berried fruit, great mid-palate acidity and a fair amount of tannin. This is one of those wines that needs some time before it shows its best.

When it does, though, the results will be stunning. Only 80 cases of this wine were produced and can be ordered in our on-line store.

The Game's all About Food

We may root for a particular team, wear that team's jersey, live and die with the fortunes of that team...but we all really know, the big game is about the food and wine. I am serving the dish below...what Pinot would go best?

In Good Company

There are a lot of great wines produced in California. It has always been a goal (especially in our Cabernet House where the Livermore Valley appellation doesn't get the credit it deserves) to make wines that are considered among the best.

And while I am deeply conflicted about the wine reviewing process (more on that another time), the benefits of a positive review are undeniable. Jim Laube, the California wine reviewer for the Wine Spectator magazine, just published a list of top scoring Pinot Noirs from last year, and our Garys' Vineyard from 2005 is included.

We are re-releasing the last 120 bottles from our Library. The limit is 2 bottles per person. The price is $75 per bottle. Click to order Pinot Noir - Garys' Vineyard.

Making Sense of La Rochelle

The world of Pinot Noir can be confusing... the myriad flavors and aromas and appellations and clones... lots of stuff to know.

In an effort to give you more information, we have created a Pinot Noir Characteristics matrix that details information about all of our wines.

Find the downloadable Matrix here. We will update it regularly.