Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 75

US NEW RELEASES
Perli, with more than half the lot coming
from his own vineyard three miles from the
coast. This wine captures the salt air and
conifer scents of the wind on the ridges along
the Mendocino coast, held tight for now in
the iron grip of tannins. Built to cellar, this
will mellow and grow more welcoming with
bottle age. (680 cases)
511779

91 | Davis Bynum

$55

91 | Drew

$80

2015 Sonoma County Dijon Clone 667
Jane's Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ Sleek and rich,
this is a luscious pinot noir with edges of acidity (think blood orange and green herb) to
lend all that volume some mouthwatering
drive. It's heady and generous, with a firm
texture that will yield to seared duck breast.
512147
2015 Mendocino Ridge Estate Field Selections Pinot Noir ^ This is the second release
from Drew's vineyard on the coastal side
of the Mendocino Ridge appellation, three
miles from the sea. It smells of conifer forest, rose hips and stem spice, then tastes of
crunchy fruit, red apple and cranberry, over
tense, earthy tannins. A powerful young
pinot noir, this needs a year or two in bottle
to mellow. (75 cases)
512123

91 | Dutton-Goldfield

$62

2015 Fort Ross-Seaview McDougall Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ Dan Goldfield makes a powerful pinot noir from this far-coast vineyard,
a site not far from Hirsch. It's a sunny red in
2015, concentrated with mouth-coating tannins that taste like bitter chocolate. Youthfully tight, almost purple in its fruit, this
needs time before it begins to release its floral notes. A substantial red for a steakhouse.
(140 cases)
512004

91 | Gros Ventre

$38

2015 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ^ Chris Pittenger, the winemaker at Skinner in the
Sierra Foothills, started this winery with his
wife, Sarah, in 2009. He sources this pinot
from three vineyards, including the Campbell Ranch, Baranoff and one he has agreed
not to name. An extended cold soak and
spontaneous ferment have left it with some
youthful reduction, so if you open it now,
splash it into a decanter to shake that off.
Then you'll find lovely spiced red-currant flavors and intriguing scents of roses and cardamom. The tannins are neither heavy nor
hard, allowing the wine to open up to a summery salt-air freshness. (160 cases)
511807

91 | Steele

$36

2014 Santa Barbara County Bien Nacido
Vineyard Block N Pinot Noir ^ Broad and
juicy, this wine takes time to gain focus, turning its green spice into youthful charm as it
continues to brighten with air. A day later, it's
juicy, honest and clean, impressively concentrated. (250 cases)
511935

91 | Thomas Fogarty

$66

2014 Santa Cruz Mountains Will's Cabin
Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ Michael Martella, the
founding winemaker at Thomas Fogarty,
planted this vineyard in 2000, on a ridge rising to 2,300 feet, facing northwest toward the
Pacific. The ocean is 14 miles away, but the
drought year still brought an early harvest
in 2014, creating a concentrated, red-fruited
wine with some spicy reduction-like freshground pepper over the delicate strawberry
scents. As clean and persistent as the flavors
may be, the wine has a coldness to it; as one
taster said, "This wine is not here to please
you." Give it a year or two to mellow and
grow more accommodating.
512216

91 | Three Sticks

$65

2016 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir ^
Bob Cabral, longtime winemaker at Williams Selyem, joined Bill Price III as director of winemaking for Three Sticks in 2015.
He and his team blend this wine from two
estate vineyards, one west of Sebastopol, one
near Occidental, along with fruit from Earl
Stephens in Forestville. Those cool western
sources provide brightness to a rich Russian
River Valley pinot, its ripe black-cherry flavors gripped with savory fruit-skin tannins.
Straightforward and substantial, this is a
wine to pour with roast duck.
512005

90 | Gros Ventre

PETITE SIRAH

$78

2014 Santa Cruz Mountains Rapley Trail
Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ Planted in 1981, the
mature vines at Fogarty's vineyard weathered the heat and drought of 2014 to deliver
a powerful red, gripping in its stemmy tannins, sappy, umami and tense. With a day
of air, that tension surrounding the tannins begins to relent, revealing more detail,
from espresso and cocoa scents toward more
compelling notes of earth and forest. Built
to cellar.
511936

91 | Thomas Fogarty

wine's impressive tannins build structure
around the red cherry and raspberry confit
flavors, bringing the fruit sweetness into a
clean, simple line. (176 cases)

$52

2015 Anderson Valley Cerise Vineyard
Pinot Noir ^ Sourcing fruit from the Knez
family's biodynamically farmed vineyard
in the hills above Boonville, Chris Pittenger
takes this pinot through an extended cold
soak and spontaneous fermentation. The

511988

89 | Fleur

$19

2014 North Coast Scarlett Vineyard Petite
Sirah (Best Buy) ^ A big, purple-fruited petite
with simple lines, this is remarkably soft for
what is usually a tannic variety. It develops
a lovely texture with a day of air, leaving an
initial oak soapiness behind, moving toward
a floral purple-grape scent. Cellar it for a
few years, or forget it for a few hours in a
decanter. (1,200 cases)

RED BLENDS
512007

91 | Gros Ventre

$28

90 | Donkey & Goat

$42

2016 El Dorado County High Country
Red ^ Take cherry blossom-scented pinot noir
and combine it with the obsidian edges of El
Dorado gamay noir, allow it to ferment on its
own, then age it in neutral French oak, and
you'll end up with something like this powerful, impressively structured red. The fruit has
a licorice and pomegranate depth, the tannins a spicy, bark-like bitterness. Plump and
rich, this will stand up to bistro fare, from a
rustic country pâté to steak frites. (275 cases)
511883
2016 El Dorado County The Bear ^ The
Brandts blend this wine from counoise,
cinsault, mourvedre, grenache, syrah and
roussanne; the vines grow in the Fenaughty
and Lightner vineyards at elevations ranging from 2,700 to 2,900 feet. This ferments
without added yeasts and with minimal sulfur, yielding a wine with a slight prickle on
the palate alnd plenty of fruit, from red to
black and purple berries. Its full-on power
will match merguez sausages off the grill.
(267 cases)

WINE & SPIRITS

AUGUST 2018

https://shop.carneroswinecompany.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=FSNC14

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - August 2018