Creature of habit that I am, I'm going to discuss the 2025 World of Pinot Noir Grand Tastings, held Friday, February 28 and Saturday, March 1, using the loose rubric I've leaned on the past few years: New Finds and Old Friends. So here's to the new stuff--at least to me. (Most of these wineries have been around for decades, so all apologies for me not knowing y'all before.) One of the new WOPN things was the above photo--fish eggs for everyone! The bubbles room, aka the Bacara's lower level rotunda, offered briny bubbles of delight too on Saturday. I wholeheartedly approve of this addition. Thanks, The Caviar Co., for providing the scrumptious product. Plus I'm proud I not only remembered to snap a photo (this, as ever, is one of my regrets, not getting enough pictures), but this one turned out kind of cool. I credit the caviar for classingy up the joint.
Speaking of classy, one of the volunteers who made sure only those with VIP wristbands got into the VIP lounge tipped me off to the above pour happening at the
Ramey table.
Wine Spectator has hailed founder David Ramey as "Professor Chardonnay," so the opportunity to taste a 2012, in large format--sign me up. The wine was noted for its soul on its release, and that's even more so now--it made you feel a bit holy drinking it. Honeyed notes of Meyer lemon, a suggestion of ginger, saline, minerality, such depth. Platt Vineyard is a mere four miles from the Pacific--you look down onto Bodega Bay and can spy the schoolhouse famous from Hitchcock's
The Birds. Even better, starlings take over the vineyard to the point the prized grapes grow under nettings. Alas, Platt recently got bought by AXA Millésimes, a French interest that also owns Bordeaux's Château Pichon Baron, Domaine de l'Arlot in Burgundy, and Portugal's Quinta do Noval, so yep, they only play with the best. And will keep that best all to themselves. Merde. But in the meantime, there was this as a testament. Also worth noting, the 2022 Estate Pinot Ramey poured, the first vintage from their own vineyard, Westside Farms, was also a winner, a refined, coastal version of the varietal with a gorgeous perfume leaning into roses all into your noses (so much for the joint getting classed up, sorry).
Now that we're done with putting on airs, let's go to the Wine Australia table. This transition isn't as mean as it seems--we're going to get to some unfortunate folks exiled from England to Oz in a bit. I tasted a dozen wine at the table, not even close to all the ones they were pouring, but here are a few highlights.
Fowles' wins a prize simply for having a wine called Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch. From the Strathbogie Ranges in Victoria, the pourer told a complicated story about why the wine is labeled Wild Ferment--the youngest children doing foot-stomping was at the heart of it. I swear I'm not making any of this up. It's a good representative of the lighter style of Pinot coming from Australia, where things are a bit cooler, of course. (And nothing like the brawny Shirazes one might know from the Barossa.)
Indeed, what intrigued me the most at the table were wines from Tasmania. The rep joked, "South from Tasmania you've got nothing until Antartica, well, except for some insignificant island down there, I think they call it New Zealand." (Good ANZUS burn!) Everything here is cool climate, and the mountains up the center of Tasmania create a rain shadow effect for the eastern part of the island. So you can get a Pinot like the 2022 from
Handpicked in the Tamar Valley, lithe and lovely, rhubarb and strawberry, a hint of white pepper. Or one that was even bigger, the
Tolpuddle 2023. I can't beat what reviewer Andrew Caillard enthusiastically wrote: "Lovely pure dark cherry, Negroni, herb garden, star anise aromas with hints of marzipan. Sweet supple dark cherry pastille, strawberry fruits, loose knit lacy/al dente textures, lovely mid palate volume and underlying marzipan roasted chestnut/herb garden notes." BTW, this winery/vineyard is named after the Tolpuddle Martyrs, early unionist who got banished from England for their labor-loving efforts. (How this group didn't get name-checked by the Mekons in
"The Olde Trip to Jerusalem" I don't know.)
And then, it turns out, those long, slow growing conditions also make for a great location for sparkling. Of the few I sampled, I particularly loved the 2011 Brut from
Henskens Rankin (a name that sounds like they made Saturday morning cartoons, no?), who, on the back of their bottles write, "We make our wine on an island, a rock at the end of the world." Seventy percent Chardonnay, 30% Pinot, that Pinot gives it a bit more heft and length. It sat six years on lees, and you can tell. So much bready goodness, creaminess, and richness of fruit. Not cheap, over $100 in the U.S., but worth it for a splurge.
Almost as unusual as Tasmania for a spot for great Pinot, Paso Robles. So that photo (from his IG feed and not at the Bacara, of course) is John Lemstra from
Jack Creek Cellars. I got to dominate my time at his table because, he sadly only half-joked, "People see we're from Paso and just keep walking." They don't know what they're missing. Lemstra and his family brought the property in 2017, but its first vintage was 2002. Every wine is estate. And there's quite a lineup--a sparkling, Chardonnays, a rosé, Grenache, Syrah, even a crisp and quenching white Pinot Noir Lemstra decided to make after tasting one from Oregon at a previous WOPN. (See the influence this event has?) As for the Pinots, of which they are several, too--they make a small amount of a lot of wines--the Paso heat, even in Templeton, is enough to give them lots of fruit and less of a mushroom character. What's more, almost all bottling consist of solely clone 943, a Dijon clone of which there is little in the U.S., due to its small berries and low yields. So Lemstra surely loves a challenge. His Pinot fights against the natural soft and floral quality of the clone, creating fascinating tension. That's experienced nowhere better than in their top-of-the-line Exodus, named since they "escaped" a previous life in the dairy farming business. Aged in 50% new French oak and in barrel for 15 months, the tannins you might expect get fully rounded by the fruit's natural plushness. A lovely big wine. If you don't know Jack (Creek), you should.
Here's another IG photo steal (note to self: take more photos next year!), of Sheree and Brian Thornsberry (and bonus dog, always a plus) of
Innumero Wines in Sonoma. I met Brian over canapés at the Thursday Opening Night party, so was sure to track his table down and did not regret sampling his single vineyard, single clone wines. Innumero (from the Latin meaning beyond numbers--sounds like the best wine experiences to me) sources from topnotch Sonoma vineyards. So you can delight in a picture perfect representation of Green Valley Chardonnay like the 2023 Bootlegger's Hill Vineyard bottling that earned them a double gold medal from the
SF Chronicle Wine Competition. Their tasting description nails it: "Aromas of honeyed white peach, tarte tatin, honeysuckle, toasted hazelnuts, lemon curd and lemon zest. The palate is so beautiful and round with bright acidity and notes of lemon curd and satsuma orange zest all the way through." Was also taken by the 2022 Little Boot Pinot Noir. Small yields led this Russian River Valley beauty to be a bit more concentrated, but still well-balanced. Yum. Innumero is also taking it slow, currently producing 1000 cases they hope to grow to 1500. All DTC, Brian insisted they prefer to operate from a sales deficit model. So if you want some, go get on that list.
Keeping up in Sonoma, I thoroughly enjoyed the wines at
Papapietro-Perry. Two couples started making wine in their basements in 1998 and after some help from legend Burt Williams of Williams Selyem along the way, they've ended up making truly distinctive, of-their-terroir Pinots. I was particularly taken with their 2022 Pommard Clones PN that comes from Bucher Vineyards, and Peters Vineyard the Leras Family Vineyards (they bottle Pinots from both of the last two, too). My note reads, "I can't get my nose into the glass enough," that's how entranced I was by the bouquet, the usual Pinot dark cherry, but so much more--plum compote, baking spice, wild flowers. It's as rich and rewarding on the palate, adding rhubarb and black tea and more. Ridiculously robust yet it only clocks at 13.7% ABV. Impressive, unique juice.
OK, you probably came to George Eats for at most a 750 ml taste of WOPN and I've plunked a Rehoboam of words upon you. I guess Pinot is just a muse to me. I do want to offer a few more New Find quick hits, , listed in alpha-order, though:
CRŪ Winery: This Central Coast winery that crafts wine from Santa Maria Valley to the Santa Cruz Mountains poured their first vintage of a stunning 2021 Regan Vineyard PN. It's the vineyard where their winemaker Jose Reyes began, and he clearly has an affinity for it. Plenty of big fruit, but also a dreamy undercurrent of herbs and spice and earth.
Nysa Vineyard: Nysa is where Dionysius was raised, so good name, Dundee Hills, OR folks! Until 2004 they sold their fruit to the likes of Tori Mor and Ancien, but now do their own sophisticated wines--my note cryptically claims, "It makes me feel smarter!" I particularly enjoyed the 2017 Leda's Reserve PN.
Résonance: Simply put, Maison Louis Jadot in America, specifically Willamette Valley, OR. Sourcing grapes from their own estate vineyards, Résonance and Découverte, and others, their 2022 Willamette Valley PN seemed a bit less Oregon-typical (less earthy-mushroomy), but tasted blind I might pick it as a fine Sta. Rita Hills Pinot, and that's high praise from this homeboy.
Coming up next, Old Friends--WOPN 25.
