Nick and Luc Morlet – brothers in wine!

One could be funny and make a comparison with the famous Agatha Christie book “Ten Little Niggers” from 1939, and why not. The Morlet family has been cultivating vines in Champagne since the early 1800s, and today they farm around 30 small vineyards lots covering a total of 16.20 hectares, and they make champagne under their family label Champagne Pierre Morlet. Actually, "they" don't do, "he" does.
First there were three brothers. Then the oldest brother Luc Morlet left, after a journey in California, he went back to California in 1996, started to work as assistant winemaker behind John Kongsgaard at Newton Estate, got together with his girlfriend (they met earlier), married her, started to work at Peter Michael Winery and then left to work for Staglin Family Vineyard and to set up his own Morlet Family Vineyards in 2006.
Later the second and youngest brother, Nick Morlet, left Champagne and the family business to go to California, where he joined his brother Luc Morlet, and in December 2005 took over his job at Peter Michael Winery. He is still at that winery, and as his brother thrives in the California soil, climate and viticulture, so does he.
In Champagne, the middle brother Pierre Morlet, still works with the family vineyards, making champagne. As far as I know, he’s not on his way over the Atlantic.

2007 l'Aprés Midi of Peter Michael Winery / 88 p
The last vintages, the blend have been around 90-93 percent Sauvignon Blanc (mostly the Preston Clone, but also some Musqué Clone) with a balance of Sémillon, all grapes from Les Pavots Vineyard at approximately 420-440 meter of altitude. Color is pale straw, the nose bright and fresh and surprisingly shy (compared to what I’m used to in this wine), but very pure with delicious notes of lemon peel. Giving it a few minutes of air in the glass, some reticent notes of white lilies evolves, which adds to the complexity. Since only ten percent of the wine saw oak, it’s more fresh and steely. On the palate, it is as fresh and clean, but there is a fine texture that gives the wine a silkiness rather than the crisp structure one would look for in a sauvignon. It doesn’t come as a surprise that the oak fermented fraction was kept on its lees for ten to eleven months, with some bâtonnage to add that texture. Acidity, though, is fresh since there was no malolactic fermentation. It’s a nice, fresh and easy drinking, still quite complex wine. Try it with seafood, Thai food, elegant fish dishes … or just as it is.
Drink it 2011-2013.

2007 La Proportion Dorée of Morlet Family Wines / 91 p
The idea about this wine, Luc Morlet told me, was to find the average blend of the vintages of the greatest vintages of the white wine from Château Haut-Brion, hence the name (in French, of course) La Proportion Dorée. The golden recipe was 66 percent Sémillon, 32 percent Sauvignon Blanc and just two percent of Muscadelle.
At first, the nose is a bit closed with just small notes of lemon and yellow stone fruits, but knowing this wine quite well, I was patient enough to let it sit in my glass for another 15 minutes. Even that didn’t change the wine too much, but it made it open up a bit, and in blends like this it will make the Sémillon fraction take some more space. I found fine notes of bees wax and honey – not too much – but at this youthful stage the lemon notes is more dominant.
Compared to the l’Aprés Midi, this wine have more weight, some vanilla from the oak, slightly higher alcohol and longer taste. I prefer to serve this with more air (at least half an hour in a decanter) and at slightly higher temperature than the lighter l’Aprés Midi, let’s say 14 degrees, even though the alcohol is higher and show more. This is also a wine for richer dishes, like grilled fished and seafood with creamy sauces, or even poultry and white meat. It’s a lovely wine, but I rather drink it early – only a few California white wines ages with grace.
Drink it 2011-2015.

Terroir expression from Ravenswood

Joel Peterson took his first steps in his wine life in 1973, at that time as a wine writer and consultant with a weekend job at Joseph Swan Winery in Russian River. Although Joseph Swan was (or were soon to be) famous for his pinots, he told the young Joel no to grow Pinot Noir because it was too demanding and difficult. Instead Zinfandel caught Joels interest. “At that time, there were a lot of old vineyards with Zinfandel in Sonoma, but few winemakers seemed to be interested to buy them, therefore I travelled around Sonoma to look at the vineyards, and later on to buy some grapes. In 1981 he and Reed Foster (a business man) founded Ravenswood.
Over the years, Joel Peterson and Ravenswood have been the leading forces behind the great success of Zinfandel. Or, the transition from being a booring grape destined for sweet pink colored White Zinfandel into something deliscious and serious. Today Zinfandel is, with its 20 383 hectares in production, the third most widely planted grape variety in California. Only Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon are more important.
On the entry level, Ravenswood makes a quite average but acceptable Zinfandel Vintners Blend that reflects the grape variety without being distinct. I much more prefer the not particular more expensive appellation series, with an elegant and fruit forward Mendocino County Zinfandel, a more ripe and intense Sonoma County Zinfandel, a well structured Napa Valley Zinfandel and the Lodi Zinfandel, a wine with a lush body and a slightly more sweet scented fruit. But it is in the vineyard designated wines the true gems are to be found. These wines show that Zinfandel also can be transparent, that its wines can reflect terroir.
All the vineyard designated wines are made in more or less the same way. Some stems may be included in the vat, but most often all bunches are destemmed. Fermentation takes place in open top fermenters of old redwood and it’s always carried out with the indigenous yeast. Like for Pinot Noir, pigeage is utilized for extraction. The malolactic fermentation in the zinfandels is slow, very slow – sometimes the wines needs up to one year to complete it! The wines are then matured in small oak casks, for this quality most of them are French, 30 percent to brand new, for up to 18 months.
“I always make more wines than I need from each single vineyard, that allows me to make a strict selection of which barrels I’d like to use to the vineyard designated wines – the barrels that doesn’t make the cut, are blended into my regular Vintners Blend”, Joel says.

2002 Zinfandel Old Hill / 92 p
The Old Hill vineyard is probably one the oldest in Sonoma County. It was planted already in 1854, but was replanted in the 1870s and 1880s by William Hill. Joel Peterson once told me, this vineyard probably served as a nursery in the past. “Side by side to the Zinfandel vines, you’ll find other grape varieties, at least 20 of them, such as Alicante Bouschet, Malbec, Touriga Nacional and Petite Sirah”, he said. Not enough to make a descent volume of wine from each grape, but highly interesting to add to the blend. This is also how Joel Peterson uses these grapes in this wine. “As a spice”, he says. Since the vines are very old, the yields are extremely low, barely a half bottle of wine per vines.
Some wine critics claims that zinfandels should be drunk within five to ten years, and that may be true in many cases, but even after eight years this wine still shows its sweet scented primary fruit qualities, yet with a slight touch of secondary complexity. And that’s just fine, that’s the way it should be. Tannins are fine and silkier than in the Monte Rosso selection, but still the structure is there to hold up body. In the lingering aftertaste, there are notes of sweet tobacco and dried fruits, but less of that alcohol warmth (alcohol is only 14.2 percent in this wine) you find in the Monte Rosso wine. Production this year was 395 cases.
Drink it 2010-2016.

2002 Zinfandel Monte Rosso / 92 p
The southwest facing Monte Rosso Vineyard is one of the finest for red wines in Sonoma Valley, or actually at 250 to 360 meters of altitude above the valley floor, where the soil is rocky and dominated of a red volcanic soil (hence the name). It was planted with Zinfandel already in the 1880s, and of a total of 102 hectares, there’s as much as 16.20 hectares with vines from that time! The history says the cuttings came directly from Croatia, and therefore it’s likely that these clones are the oldest and most close to Creljenak Castelanski, the most ancient and original type of Zinfandel that was brought into United States in the 1830s. This vineyard was once owned by Louis M Martini, but when they sold their company to the Gallo family in 2002, they also sold this unique vineyard.
The wine is made in the same way as the one from quite nearby Old Hill, but the structure is much more firm due to the slightly cooler site, and the poor volcanic soil. The nose is just lovely, the still youthful dark and sweet fruit play around with the first signs of more complex secondary flavors, there’s actually a kind of stony mineral note that’s very attractive. Even though the tannins still are firm – in a way they hold back the fruit a bit – there’s enough fruit to make the taste, and the lingering aftertaste, very interesting. The 15.4 percent of alcohol stated on the label is very well integrated. Compared to the Old Hill selection, this wine offers fine notes of dried fruit such as prunes and raisins, which is quite common in ripe zinfandels. Still this wine hasn’t reached its perfect maturity yet. There was 3 075 cases made of this wine.
Drink it 2012-2018.

La Carrière from Peter Michael Winery 2008-2005

The vineyards of Peter Michael Winery are among the most beautiful in California. The 225 hectare estate, of which 48.55 hectares are planted to vines, climbs from the Knights Valley floor in eastern Sonoma up on the mountain. At 300 to 400 meters, the white and red Bordeaux varieties are planted, and further up the mountain the Chardonnay vineyards are situated, from 500 to 600 meters above sea level. These are among the highest vineyards in California.
Some of the slopes, such as the La Carrière Vineyard, are as steep as 40 degrees (!), and the soil is composed of different volcanic materials which all adds a lovely and much so needed mineral note in the rich and ripe wines.
In many ways, this estate is unique. One of the most interesting aspects of it, is that just within some hundred meters you’ll find another soil type, altitude and/or exposure, hence the various personalities of the wines made here. This is, together with Diamond Creek Vineyards in Diamond Mountain further south in Napa Valley, the most impressive site of terroir in California.
La Carrière Vineyards is the steepest vineyard of the estate. It was planted in 1994 with Chardonnay of various Dijon Clones (60 percent), the fantastic Hyde selection (26 percent) and the See clone (14 percent). The beautiful vineyard stretches from 530 to almost 600 meters above sea level on a steep south facing slope with a dazzling white volcanic ash that makes it looks like the vineyards in Chablis, or even in Le Mesnil in Champagne. The soil may well have the same impact on the wines here in Knights Valley as in France, but the sunshine is for sure not French. These wines are true California chardonnays, rich and ripe, yet with a sense of finesse and classical winemaking.

2008 La Carrière / 93-94 p
La Carrière is always a 100 percent Chardonnay wine, fermented in brand new French oak barrels with the natural yeast, and after full malolactic fermentation and 11 to 12 months in the oak, the wine is bottled without fining or filtration. Alcohol level normally reaches 14.7 to 15.2 percent, in this vintage 15.2 percent, which has been absorbed pretty well by the ripe fruit, the silky body and the fine structure … it’s just in the finish where the warmth of the alcohol shines through. Color is pale straw, nose is slightly closed at first and it takes a few minutes and some aeration for the aromas to develop, then the youthful spicy oak find the balance with the ripe and concentrated but still quite elegant fruit. On the palate, the ripe fruit shows in a slightly sweet scented flavor, but the finish is completely dry thanks to the acidity and the tannins from the oak. I would keep this wine for another half year or year, or decant it one hour prior to serving it.
Drink it 2011-2016.

2007 La Carrière / 95-96 p
This is a great vintage, not only for this wine, but for most vineyards in California. Already when it was poured into the large glass, the lovely aromas filled the air. Color is still young and pale, the nose very elegant with a great flavor combination of the classic wine world and the new – cool climate fruit flavors meets the sunshine of California … yellow apples, pears, lemon peel, candid lemon, pineapple, as well as some spicy nutmeg flavor from the oak. Even though the alcohol reached 15.0 percent, balance is the word in this wine, which is one of the finest made from this vineyard up to date. When serving this wine, and other California chardonnays of this power and richness, it’s very important to serve it slightly chilled to keep the alcohol, spicy oak and sweet fruit in absolute balance, around 12 degrees Celsius is just perfect.
Drink it 2010-2017.

2006 La Carrière / 93-94 p
This vintage is absolutely great, and even if the 2008 and 2007 are as good or better, the 2006 drinks just perfect right now. As the other vintages in this tasting, the color is pale straw. I find the nose to be the mostly fine tuned and elegant of the four – which of course depends on a very good vintage and the fact that this wine at this stage has found a perfect balance between primary fruit and oak flavors and the elegance that comes with just some age. If I have been served this wine completely blind, I would have been in Bâtard-Montrachet for a while, just because this wine has that great fatness and texture as one finds in the greatest grand crus of Burgundy. However, the mineral notes are not as expressive in the 2006 La Carrière. Anyway, it is a lovely wine to drink over the next years.
Drink it 2010-2014.

2005 La Carrière / 92 p
Of the four, this is the fullest, ripest and the spiciest. Color is still young, pale straw with a slightly greenish rim. On the nose, the oak is quite spicy with notes of nutmeg. Still the oak is well balanced by the ripe but not too sweet fruit – notes of pears and apples as well as pineapple are intense but not overly heavy, so it is very well balanced and elegant. On the palate, it’s actually still young, rich with a slightly sweet scent of ripe fruit, but thanks to a good but not fresh acidity, a hint of mineral, and a spicy note from the brand new oak barrels, the structure is firm and elegant. It’s a very good wine – by itself it’s fantastic, but next to its more elegant neighboring vintages it’s not as outstanding.
Drink it 2010-2012.

Cuvée Indigène 2007 and 2008 from Peter Michael Winery

At Peter Michael Winery in Knights Valley, six chardonnays are made. One of them, Point Rouge, is a top selection, another one, Mon Plaisir, is sourced from Jess Jacksons vineyards in Alexander Mountain further up north, and three wines are vineyard selections from the steep vineyards above the winery of Peter Michael. Then there is a chardonnay called Cuvée Indigène, introduced as an experimental wine by the former winemaker Helen Turley to discover if and how wild fermentation could add a greater sense of terroir in the wines.
Today, when all wines are fermented with the indigenous yeast and the winemaking team knows more about the terroir in the different vineyard blocks, this cuvée has become a wine of its own. The intention is to make a powerful, yet elegant chardonnay. Grapes are predominately sourced from the Upper Barn Block in Jackson’s vineyard in Alexander Mountain. It is wild fermented in brand new French oak barrels, it undergoes full malolactic fermentation and stays in the oak for a year, with bâtonnage once a week. Production reaches around 500 cases per year.

2007 Cuvée Indigène / 93 p
Golden straw color indicates a rich and barrel aged wine with the first signs of maturity, yet the nose is youthful and fruit driven with notes of pineapple and lemon peals, and there’s also a fine buttery and creamy quality that adds intensity, plus a slightly roasted note of nutmeg from the oak barrels. On the palate, the wine is rich and ripe, again with a creamy texture and sweet notes of lemons, but there is enough acidity and mineral notes to make a fine balance. The oak adds a certain nutty complexity to the taste, and the alcohol (14.5 percent) gives warmth in the end of the taste. Even if the first sip gives a slightly sweet sensation, the finish is dry, very long and elegant. Wines like this should be served at 10-12 degrees Celsius.
Drink it 2010-2012.

2008 Cuvée Indigène / 92-93 p
The overall characteristics are quite alike those of the 2007 vintage, but the color in this wine is paler and the structure more firm and marked by acidity. Although the body is almost as rich and silky, the taste is drier and the notes of minerals are much more evident, which adds a greater complexity in this vintage. Still, there are lovely notes of nutmeg, hazel nuts, honey, sweet lemons and acacia. I have a slight preference for the 2008 vintage, just because of the mineral notes and the finer texture. It should be served at 10-12 degrees.
Drink it 2010-2013.

Chardonnays from Marcassin

There’s several cult cabernets in California, also some cult syrah wines (notably those from Sine-Qua-Non - I'll get back to those!), and a few of Pinot Noir. When it comes to whites, there’s still only one producer with some kind of cult stature – Marcassin. Helen Turley, the woman behind the winery, came to California in 1977 and started her career in the laboratory of Mondavi Winery. Later, she made wines at Chappellet on Pritchard Hill, at B R Cohn and then at Peter Michael Winery. She became a superstar winemaker of Sonoma and then Napa Valley with many highly acclaimed wineries in her consultant business. She was loved, she was feared, and her wines was awarded with top Parker scores.

In 1991, she planted a 3.45 hectare vineyard in the cool true Sonoma Coast, Marcassin Vineyard, and begun to make great chardonnays, and pinots. Today, the wines are extremely hard to get, sold only through the mailing list. You'll also find them on the second hand market, but there they are very expensive.
The chardonnays are all made in the same way, whole bunch pressed, very slowly fermented with the indigenous yeast in 100 percent new French oak barrels, and always with full malolactic fermentation. The wine style is somewhat extreme, especially when taste young. Helen Turley says the wines need some years of bottle age, sometimes even 10 years – and although I normally don’t think California whites are able to age very well, I do agree with here on these wines. Give them 5-7 years from vintage, and don’t serve them to cold, 12-14 degrees is great. Like the wines from Kistler, these wines benefit from decanting.

2004 Chardonnay Zio Tony Ranch / 88-93?
The Zio Tony Ranch in Sonoma Coast is owned by the Martinelli family. This wine was a bit strange. At first, it was very shy and closed, with a quite oaky note and something that felt a bit unclean. Under that, there were notes of yellow plums, lemon zest and vanilla. With air, the musty notes became stronger, and stayed there for almost one hour. The cork wasn’t very good, but there was no trace of TCA, neither of oxidation. It was more like reduction – so I waited. For two hours! Then it turned into something very enjoyable, still young actually (Helen is right, her wines needs air, and bottle age) and the roasted notes of oak became more and more balanced and there is lovely notes of honey and both white and yellow flowers. On the palate, the wine is full and rich, at first with an intensity that you almost would describe as sweet, but the taste is completely dry. Alcohol is 14.9 percent, but to be honest, I don’t really feel that. The notes of honey is there, combined with lemon zest and a kind of clove like spiciness from the oak. The aftertaste lingers for a minute, or two, and suddenly I really like the wine. Still I’m a bit confused. Is the wine too young? Was it a bad bottle? Drink it over the next 3-4 years.

2004 Chardonnay Marcassin Vineyard / 96-97
This is always the greatest selection of Marcassin wines. Made entirely from the estate grapes of the Marcassin Vineyard, and produced in the same way as the other wines. Unfiltered and slightly hazy, it doesn’t look too good (well, I know it's good, so I don't care), but just put your nose in the glass, and you’ll smile. This is almost as complex as California chardonnays gets, great and intense at the same time as there is finesse and cool but rich and ripe yellow stone fruits. The one hundred percent new French expensive oak is extremely well integrated, as in the finest grand crus of Burgundy, a proof of the intensity and quality of the site and the grapes … and the winemaker. If you focus, you’ll notice the high alcohol (14.8 percent), but most likely you’ll move on to enjoy the floral notes, the lemon zest, the cool Pacific influenced fresh acidity and the fantastic balance of this great wine. If there is something I miss that would bring higher score to this wine, is would be a bit more intensity and liveliness in the aftertaste. But as long as it is so damn good, I will not complain too much. After all, it is a truly great bottle of wine! Don’t serve it too cold, and don’t pour it directly from the bottle – it needs decanting! Drink it now thru 2014.

2001 Chardonnay Marcassin Vineyard / 93-94
I had this wine at French Laundry, and therefore it was tasted open. The sommelier decanted the wine, as expected, and it stayed in the decanter for 20 minutes before I really tasted it. I can just image how much it opened up during that short period of time. As always, I find the wines of Marcassin to be a bit oaky at first and when young, but when they open up with some air, they show much more of their rich body, their depth, their intensity. With this wine, although it was almost 8 years old the time and the honey notes were more present, the oak was still there. Marcassin is always a very rich wine, and you almost always expect to find notes of pineapple and sweet lemon here, but still the acidity is so fresh so you’ll never feel any sweetness. This is one of the great things about this wine. Let’s go for the silky and quite charming body, but there is nothing easy about these wines. The acidity is always marked, this is the sign of the true Sonoma Coast, and even if there is sweetness from concentration and alcohol, you will describe the wine as completely dry. This is for sure a very good wine, but knowing it was a Marcassin, I actually expected a litte bit more. Was the wine fading away? Was it too old? Or was it still closed? To be honest, I don’t know.

Kistler Chardonnays

The more I taste the younger vintages of the chardonnays of Kistler, the more I find them to show elegance, complexity and personality. They are all whole cluster pressed, the must is then settled over night and fermented with its natural yeast in French oak, 40-60 percent new depending on vintage and vineyard. All wines undergoes full malolactic fermentation and are barrel aged on their lees for 12 to 18 months, with frequent bâtonnage during the first year. Consider that treatment, the wines are surprisingly elegant. And they have become even more elegant in recent years. I strongly recommend you to decant the Kistler chardonnays at least 30 minutes prior to serving them, or even one hour in advance, and also to serve them at around 12-14 degrees rahter than too chilled. This is the best way to maximize the pleasure of drinking those wines!

2004 Chardonnay Vine Hill Vineyard / 93-94
The grapes for this wine are sourced from the 8.10 hectare estate vineyard in the heart of Russian River. With a production of about 2 700 cases, it’s normally the largest of the vineyard selections from Kistler. Like all of his chardonnays, it's unfiltered and therefore slightly hazy, in this case also with a first hint of golden straw maturity nuances. On the nose, the wine shows lovely notes of ripe pears and lemon zest, and apart from a slightly more roasted touch of oak ageing than you normally find in Burgundy, it’s actually quite burgundian like. For sure, the cooler climate of Russian River is shown here, and the alcohol (14.1 percent) it very well integrated. When I first tasted the wine, it showed more ripe fruit, but with some air and the time in the glass (and especially after two hours in the decanter), the sweet notes almost disappeared. That’s when the highly appreciated complexity takes over. And there’s a lot of fresh acidity and also mineral notes from the goldridge soil, and the long lingering aftertaste is so incredibly elegant. The 40 percent of new French oak is incredibly well integrated. Drink it now thru 2012.

2005 Chardonnay Hudson Vineyard / 95
Color is slightly more golden yellow in this wine, still with a youthful greenish touch. As expected (this wine was not blind tasted), both the nose and body shows good concentration. The Chardonnay grapes of Old Wente Clone are sourced from the legendary E-Block of Lee Hudson Vineyard in the cool Carneros of Napa Valley, from where Helen Turley of Marcassin made her legendary wines many years ago, hence the great reputation of this site. At first, this wine is rich and creamy and almost buttery. But there is more to come if you are patient – with air it really opens up, and after half an hour in the glass, it reveals more of a grand cru power and finesse. There is lemon zest, a delightful smokiness from the oak and the ageing on the lees and fine notes of pan roasted brioche and the bacon fat. The more wine evolves in the glass, the more complex it becomes. No wonder the Hudson Vineyard selection so often is the very best of the Kistler chardonnays. On the palate, oak is still present although well integrated with the rich but still very elegant fruit. Notes of roasted hazelnuts and nutmeg are there in a very soft and delicate way, but the cleanliness of the fruit and the fresh acidity – and a salty sensation I guess derives from the minerals in the soil – gives the wine a great balance. I just love this wine! Drink it over the next 4-5 years.

2005 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Kistler

Since inaugural vintage 1979, winemaker Steve Kistler who teamed up with Mark Bixler, has produced chardonnays and pinots of exquisite quality. The wines of the first decade I didn’t taste, and they’re now all gone (at least the remaining bottles will not have last – these kind of wines should be drunk within their first ten years). The first bottles I came along in the early 90s, were all good to very good, but since the last vintages of the 90s, the quality improvement has been remarkable. Kistler and Bixler now owns 24 hectares of vineyards, but they also source grapes from various cool and great vineyards around Carneros, Russian River and Sonoma Coast. Methods are all the same utilized at leading premium domains of Burgundy, but style wise wines are Californian, of course. However, over the last vintages, the style has become more and more elegant.
These two wines, tasted at a full day California Wine Seminar I held for sommeliers, both showed what a talented winemaker Steve Kistler is.

2005 Chardonnay McCrea Vineyard / 94
Steve Kistler shows his skills with Chardonnay in this lovely, pure and elegant wine, made from grapes bought from the well known McCrea Vineyard on 240 meters altitude in Sonoma Mountain. It was planted with low yielding clones in 1970, but has been managed (very well) by Kistler and his partner Mark Bixler since 1983. Grapes are whole bunch pressed, and the grape must is then completely fermented in French oak barrels, not more than 50 percent new, and kept on its lees with full malolactic fermentation for around one year.
Color is young and pale, and the nose is quite discrete with fine notes of cool climate fruit, pure and fresh with a finesse normally found in fine wines from Burgundy, but not too often in California. The oak is also very well integrated, and I find no buttery or creamy notes of the malolactic fermentation. Great finesse and balance is also found on the palate, medium bodied with a lively acidity, and just a touch of spiciness (almost like cloves) from the oak. One way to check the quality of New World chardonnays is to let them sit in glass for 30 minutes. Wines that loose most of its aromas and flavors are rarely of great quality. Wines that keep their finer fragrances, and even improve in the glass, are great. This wine stays perfectly well and keeps its finesse at even higher temperatures than its recommended 12-14 degrees. Drink it thru 2012.

2005 Pinot Noir Kistler Vineyards / 92-93
Things I look for in a pinot, is fragrance and elegance. A Pinot should never be heavy, neither to week, and its seductive fruit shouldn’t be covered in oak. In that sense, this is a lovely and well recommended wine. Grapes comes from cool sites in Occidental in the coolest parts of Russian River, and production is classic with no stems, a few days of cold soak and a total of 22-28 days of skin contact with pigeage, natural yeast, malolactic fermentation in French oak casks, and then only a year in total in oak. At first, the nose is upfront fruity with intense aromas of red and dark cherries, sloe and also wild raspberries. With some air, more elegant och complex nuances make its way through the fruit, and as always (nowadays) the oak is very well integrated. On the palate, this is a very seductive wine, soft and silky with ripe tannins and a lively and fresh acidity that make a fine balance with the almost sweet and very elegant fruit. It’s hard not to like this wine. It should keep well over the next 6-8 years.