Spring 2007 Release

• 2004 Hyde Vineyard Carneros Chardonnay
• 2004 Hudson Vineyard Carneros Chardonnay
• 2004 Vine Hill Vineyard Russian River Valley Chardonnay
• 2004 Kistler Vineyard Sonoma Valley Chardonnay
• 2004 Kistler Vineyard Cuvée Cathleen Sonoma Valley Chardonnay
• 2005 Stone Flat Vineyard Sonoma Coast Chardonnay
• 2004 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
• 2004 Occidental Station Cuvée Catherine Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
• 2004 Bodega Headlands Cuvée Elizabeth Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

We are proud to announce our Spring 2007 Release which features the 2004 Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs listed above, as well as the 2005 Stone Flat Vineyard Sonoma Coast Chardonnay which will serve to introduce the newest of our world-class chardonnay vineyards and provide a preview of the excellent 2005 chardonnays to be released this Fall.

The 2004 Chardonnay vintage produced highly aromatic and precise wines, sharply delineated by their healthy acids, and featuring a complex, underlying mineral character.  There is a great energy and vibrant quality to these remarkably layered wines–an emphasis on soil-driven rather than fruit-driven flavors.

Here are my brief tasting notes on our chardonnays:

2004 Hyde Vineyard Chardonnay    $65 per bottle

Green-tinged pale yellow.  Perfumed, nuanced aromas of lime blossom, nut oil, and stone fruits.  A vibrant, bright, and precise wine with impressive flavor intensity and length.  Delicious now and will reward further aging.

2004 Hudson Vineyard Chardonnay    $65 per bottle

Pale yellow.  Captivating nose combines citrus peel, iodine, white truffles and pain grillé.  Lush, round, and savory, with firm acids framing and intensifying the mineral and wet stone flavors.  Delicious now.

2004 Vine Hill Vineyard Chardonnay    $65 per bottle

Pale yellow.  Subtle, endlessly complex nose offers lime blossom, minerals, and slate.  Dense, tightly wound and very pure, with a powerful, stony underpinning.  Delicious now.

2004 Kistler Vineyard Chardonnay    $65 per bottle

Pale yellow.  Slow building aromas of stone fruits and white flowers.  A shapely, gripping wine that combines a seductive sweetness with a firm acid backbone.  Wonderfully perfumed and aromatic in the mouth, with an underlying minerality that saturates the palate.  Delicious now.

2004 Kistler Vineyard Cuvée Cathleen Chardonnay    $75 per bottle

Green-tinged pale yellow.  Subtle aromas of flowers and crushed stone.  A precise and penetrating wine that features complex flavors of stone fruits and slate and a discreet, stony, persistent finish.  Delicious now.

2005 Stone Flat Vineyard Chardonnay    $65 per bottle

Green-tinged pale yellow.  Pungent, truffley, Burgundian nose featuring aromas of citrus peel, hazelnut, and minerals.  Perfectly integrated acids keep the wine lively and sharply focused, while its soil-driven flavors and sulfide-y complexity add to the wine’s immediate appeal.  Delicious now.

Recently I tasted through some of our older chardonnays made in the 1990’s, and I was pleasantly surprised by the number of wines still providing enjoyable drinking–particularly selected wines from the 92, 93, 94, 95, 97, and 99 vintages.  There is unquestionably a trade-off between early drinkability and longevity, with the longest distance runner often being the most austere and least expressive wine in its youth.  We are always striving to strike the right balance between these attributes, combining the early appeal one expects from a California chardonnay with the staying power of a white Burgundy.

For our newer members, a good rule of thumb to remember for drinking our chardonnays is that all are delicious as young wines in the year of their release; in most vintages all wines will reach a window of optimum enjoyment between the ages of 4 and 6; for some wines the window will extend to 8 years, and for a few to 10 years or longer.

For instance, all our 2000 vintage chardonnays are drinking well today, and will be best enjoyed in 2007.

All our 2001 chardonnays are excellent today, especially the Kistler Vineyard and Cuvée Cathleen bottlings.  Enjoy over the next 24 months.

All our 2002 chardonnays are outstanding and certainly entering their optimum window of drinkability, 2007‑2008.

All our 2003 chardonnays are developing nicely in bottle and offer much early appeal. Sweet spot:  now‑2009.

All our 2004 chardonnays will provide much early enjoyment and possess the firm acid backbone and underlying minerality to evolve gracefully in bottle.  Sweet spot: 2007‑2010.

The question of when to drink our Pinot Noirs is a very subjective matter.  Our preference is to drink them and other outstanding Sonoma Coast Pinot Noirs on the younger side while they still possess much of their compelling primary fruit character.  We are particularly enamored of the floral perfume and definition of these young wines.  There is a freshness and energy to these wines, which accentuates their black fruit, mineral, and soil characters.

All 2002 pinot noirs are delicious now and will be at their best in 2007‑2008.

All 2003 pinot noirs are very impressive today.  Sweet spot: 2006‑2008.

All 2004 pinot noirs are elegant, pure, precise wines which will provide much enjoyment now.  Sweet spot: 2007‑2009 or even longer.

Here are my brief tasting notes on our pinot noirs:

2004 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir    $60 per bottle

Expressive, enticing aromas of black and red fruits, minerals, and smoke.  Densely packed, supple, and sweet, with lovely primary flavors accented by earth and mineral tones. A really seamless wine which offers a superb concentration of sappy, primal crushed berry flavors and a long persistent finish. Delicious now.

2004 Occidental Station Cuvée Catherine Pinot Noir    $90 per bottle

Deep, complex aromas of blackberry, violet, minerals, and cassis. Wonderfully perfumed and aromatic in the mouth, with a silky texture and great precision. A very powerful, “purple,” primary wine that manages to remain light on its feet, and finishes complex and persistent. Will be hard to resist.

2004 Bodega Headlands Cuvée Elizabeth Pinot Noir    $90 per bottle

Deep, sappy, brooding nose featuring black fruits, violet, minerals, and gun-metal. Large-scaled but elegant, with a captivating lightness of touch. Compelling inner-mouth perfume and persistence. A wine of considerable refinement and pronounced soil character. Delicious now.

A note regarding our two 2004 Cuvée Pinot Noirs:  We were fortunate in 2004 to produce nearly 1,000 cases of each wine and have therefore decided to sell 1 bottle of each Cuvée together in 2 bottle sets–for example, an allocation of 4 sets would include 4 bottles of Cuvée Catherine and 4 bottles of Cuvée Elizabeth.

Sadly, our good fortune did not carry over to the 2005 Harvest.  Late spring rains dramatically reduced Sonoma Coast pinot noir crops, particularly in vineyards closest to the ocean, so that we were able to produce only 250 cases of Cuvée  Elizabeth from our 20 acre Bodega Headlands Vineyard in 2005.

Looking forward, and to end on a very pleasant note, the harvest at Bodega Headlands in 2006 was one of the highlights of this excellent vintage, exceeding all our expectations and producing nearly 40 tons of Cuvée quality pinot noir fruit.  If all barrels behave themselves over the winter, we will be able to bottle 2,000 cases of Cuvée Elizabeth next Christmas.

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