Wine & Spirits - October 2017 - 96

US NEW RELEASES
93 | Lioco

$52

2015 Anderson Valley Cerise Pinot Noir ^
This wine's mineral grip is a bit unusual for
Anderson Valley pinot, but then Cerise is an
unusual vineyard: a rocky, windswept ridge
high above Booneville and the more sheltered vineyards in the valley. The fruit is dark,
with an almost syrah-like peppercorn note,
but it has delicacy as well-a deep rose-petal
perfume that lasts. Leave it in the cellar for a
few years before drinking it. (350 cases)
508097

93 | Lioco

$45

2015 Anderson Valley La Selva Pinot Noir ^
In 2015, the Lioco team focused their Anderson Valley appellation wine more squarely on
the cool Deep End of the valley, dropping a
mid-valley vineyard and basing the blend
around the Romani and Wentzel vineyards,
which are heavily influenced by coastal
influx. (Some Cerise fruit, from a windy hillside vineyard above Booneville, also made
the blend.) This is a fragrant, delightful
Anderson Valley pinot noir, with racy darkcherry fruit and coniferous tang, sunny, silky,
earthen and irresistibly juicy. (490 cases)
450079

93 | Red Car

$68

2014 Sonoma Coast Doc's Ranch Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ This comes from a hillside
right at the fog line, just four miles from the
Pacific; Red Car's bottling focuses on a parcel
planted to the old Swan clone. You can feel
the coastal cool the minute you smell it, the
scent like wind blowing over a field of sage
and lavender. The flavors are as transparent
as its light, bright red color would suggest-
vibrant and foresty, with the clean, mouthwatering snap of fresh cranberries. (In fact,
this was one of the six pinot noirs that helped
Team West Sonoma Coast win W&S's 2017
Sommelier Scavenger Hunt.)

450080

93 | Red Car

$45

2014 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ^ Blended
from cool vineyards like Hagan, Platt and
Red Car's own hypercoastal estate, Carroll Kemp's 2014 appellation wine is a bit
shy right now but crunchy and completely
refreshing, presenting trim, breezy strawberry and herb flavors over a subtle sandal96

WINE & SPIRITS

OCTOBER 2017

wood imprint of oak. It needs decanting or
a few years in the cellar to allow the fruit to
expand around its clean, mineral intensity.

507705

92 | Cattleya

$50

2015 Russian River Valley Cuvée Number
One Pinot Noir ^ Bibiana González Rave grew
up in Colombia and worked harvests in Bordeaux, Côte Rôtie and South Africa before
landing in Sonoma County in 2007. She's the
head winemaker at Wayfarer, the Pahlmeyer
family's Sonoma Coast project; Cattleya is
her personal label. This comes from Lakeview Vineyard in Green Valley. It's gentle and
enveloping, as plush as a spa bath towel, with
soft, sunny, floral-edged purple fruit that captures the warmth of the Russian River's days
and the cool breezes of its summer evenings.
(143 cases)
507975

92 | Hirsch

$85

92 | Kutch

$39

2014 Fort Ross-Seaview Reserve Pinot
Noir ^ Based on the top-performing old-vine
parcels throughout the Hirsch estate, this
feels tense at first, floral and mineral but austere, with a pink-hibiscus scent sneaking out
through the wine's spicy framework of oak.
With air, its brisk wild-cherry tone becomes
more powerful. It's a pinot noir meant for
the cellar rather than immediate pleasure.
(780 cases)
449702
2015 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ^ For his
2015 appellation pinot noir, Jamie Kutch
fermented fruit from Hellenthal, Bohan and
Campbell Ranch vineyards entirely as whole
clusters and aged the lots in neutral oak.
This wine leads with a prominent stem character-floral high notes, along with some
asparagus greenness. It feels caught just
on the edge of ripeness, the fruit gripping,
savory and cool. It's already refreshing-
a few years of bottle age or even decanting
should reveal more of its peppery spice and
crunchy black-raspberry flavor. (750 cases)
450076

92 | Red Car

$71

2014 Fort Ross-Seaview Estate Vineyard
Pinot Noir ^ This is the sixth vintage that Carroll Kemp harvested off the site he planted at
the end of King Ridge Road, the vines grow-

ing in coastal sandstone. It's simple and racy
at first, leaning toward green-tinged aromas
of dry brush and bay leaf. With air it picks
up richness, warmth and some earthy complexity, suggesting that it could use a year or
two in the cellar.
450071

92 | Red Car

$68

92 | Spell

$50

92 | Spell

$50

2014 Sonoma Coast Platt Vineyard Pinot
Noir ^ Parked on the windy edge of the Petaluma Gap, Platt is one of the more extreme
Sonoma sites. Given that chilly zip code, this
is surprisingly plump in 2014, the warmth
of the vintage creating a sappy texture that
provides a counterpoint to the wine's wispy,
coniferous scent-you can still feel the foggy
impact of the coast, but it's held at a distance,
as if the sun's peeking through the clouds.
507861
2015 Yorkville Highlands Weir Vineyard
Pinot Noir ^ Firm, spicy and powerful, this
has the warm solidity of a rock face soaking
up the sun. There's plenty of fruit behind
those mineral tannins, expressed for now in
potent red-cherry and black-olive flavors that
will grow more nuanced and expressive with
five years or more in the cellar. (145 cases)
507862
2015 Mendocino County Alder Springs
Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ From Stuart Bewley's
meticulously farmed vineyard in the rugged hills near Laytonville, this is warm and
brawny in the best sense, with explosive redcherry fruit and savory hints of tomato leaf
and tobacco. The tannins are firm and mountainous, balanced by an enveloping, almost
grenache-like succulence. It's gutsy enough
to handle braised goat shanks. (77 cases)

507669

92 | Williams Selyem

$72

2015 Russian River Valley Thirty-Fifth
Anniversary Westside Road Neighbors
Pinot Noir ^ This annual blend pulls together
pinot noir from historic vineyards near Williams Selyem's Westside Road winery, including Allen, Bacigalupi and Rochioli. In 2015
it offers a warm, open embrace of soft fruit,

http://www.cattleyawines.com/pinot-noir-cuvee-number-one/ https://www.williamsselyem.com/ https://www.redcarwine.com/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - October 2017