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Spring 2008 Release
- 2005 Hudson Vineyard Chardonnay Carneros
- 2005 Hyde Vineyard Chardonnay Carneros
- 2005 Vine Hill Vineyard Chardonnay Russian River Valley
- 2005 Kistler Vineyard Chardonnay Sonoma Valley
- 2005 Kistler Vineyard Cuvée Cathleen Chardonnay Sonoma Valley
- 2006 Stone Flat Vineyard Chardonnay Sonoma Coast
- 2005 Occidental Station Cuvée Catherine Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast
- 2005 Bodega Headlands Cuvée Elizabeth Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast
- 2006 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
We are proud to announce our Spring 2008 Release which features the 2005 Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs listed above, as well as the 2006 Stone Flat Chardonnay and 2006 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir which will provide a preview of the excellent 2006 wines to be released this Fall.
The 2005 chardonnay vintage produced compelling, classically styled wines which combine a great energy and freshness with the precision and structure to age gracefully in bottle. The emphasis is on soil-driven rather than fruit-driven flavors—subtle aromatic complexity rather than exotic, super-ripe theatrics. The 2005 Vine Hill Chardonnay exemplifies the vintage. At the core of this intense wine is a sense of restraint and understatement. When our winemaking friends from Burgundy visit to taste our impressive line-up of chardonnays from barrel, invariably it is the Vine Hill Chardonnay that provokes the most comment; they are accustomed to tasting young chardonnay like this in their cellars and are familiar with how it will evolve.
Here are my brief tasting notes on our chardonnays:
2005 Hudson Chardonnay $75 per bottle
Green-tinged pale yellow. Vibrant aromas of tangerine skin, iodine, roasted grains and minerals. Dense, thick, and intense, with a silky almost oily texture leavened by brisk acidity. Finishes very long and perfumed on the aftertaste with superb energy to the soil-driven flavors. Delicious now.
2005 Hyde Chardonnay $75 per bottle
Green-tinged pale yellow. Pungent burgundian nose featuring minerals, sulfides, and hazelnut. Densely packed and tactile, with superb richness, concentration, and a deep core of spice. The long finish gives a palate-staining impression of extract. Delicious now.
2005 Vine Hill Chardonnay $75 per bottle
Green-tinged pale yellow. Wonderfully ripe, piercing aromas of lime blossom, minerals and crushed stone. Tightly-wound, spicy, and very intense, with sharply delineated flavors of wet stone and almond. A powerful, classically styled wine, with terrific energy and force. Long, slow-building stony finish. Delicious now.
2005 Kistler Vineyard Chardonnay $80 per bottle
Pale yellow. Compelling aromas of ripe stonefruits, flint, and acacia flower. Extraordinarily dense and tactile on the palate, with great clarity and energy to the flavors of white peach, honeysuckle, and wet stone. The strong minerally acidity gives the wine’s fruit a distinctively firm edge. A wonderfully intense and precise wine. Delicious now.
2005 Cuvée Cathleen Chardonnay $90 per bottle
Pale yellow. Complex aroma of crushed rocks, minerals, and spring flowers. Intensely flavored, penetrating, and precise, with terrific backbone to its white peach and stone flavors. Delicious now.
2006 Stone Flat Vineyard Chardonnay $75 per bottle
Green-tinged pale yellow. Pungent aroma of nut oil, spice, and crushed stone. Intensely flavored, firm, and penetrating. Finishes very pure and long, with brisk soil-inflected flavors of minerals and powdered stone. Delicious now.
The 2005 Pinot Noir vintage produced our most impressive Cuvée wines to date. Sadly, due to the painfully low yields in the pinot vineyards closest to the ocean, we were able to produce only 1250 cases of cuvée pinot noir in 2005. Allocations of Cuvée Elizabeth, by necessity, were especially small, and we can only ask your forbearance. In 2006, thankfully, we were able to produce a record 3000 cases of cuvée pinot noir, and we may reach 3000 cases again in 2007. So there will be more generous allocations of pinot cuvees for release in 2009 and 2010. The 2006 and 2007 pinot noir vintages were uniformly excellent and we offer the 2006 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir as a preview to the 2006 vineyard-designated wines which will be released in Fall 2008.
Here are my brief tasting notes on our pinot noirs:
2005 Occidental Station Cuvée Catherine Pinot Noir $90 per bottle
Compelling aroma of black fruit, violet, cassis, and graphite. Pure, penetrating, and precise, with high-pitched flavors complicated by strong soil tones. A very primary, tightly-wound wine with lively acidity and subtle tannins. Highly aromatic and expressive with excellent delineation and inner mouth perfume. Delicious now.
2005 Bodega Headlands Cuvée Elizabeth Pinot Noir $120 per bottle
Captivating nose featuring wild dark berries, gun flint, and minerals. Densely-packed, silky, and incredibly intense, with an intriguing oriental spice character to the black fruit flavors. An endless finish of wild fruits and flowers punctuates this great wine with a final note of delicacy. Delicious now.
2006 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir $60 per bottle
Complex, vibrant aromas of blackberry, black cherry, cola, and underbrush. Rich and layered, with enticing dark fruit and mineral flavors. Finishes very long and spicy, with fine-grained tannins and a lovely aromatic persistence. Delicious now.
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