Born in Babylonia, Moved to Sonoma--Siduri

Adam Lee and his wife Dianna founded Siduri Wines (Siduri was the Babylonian goddess of wine) in 1994, and since then their winery has become one of the best known producers of Pinot Noir on the west coast, working with 20 fine vineyards from Santa Barbara to the Willamette Valley. Things got so good, they even got to sell the winery to Jackson Family Wines last January--who says the big companies can only buy up craft brewers? Corporate insists they want Siduri to remain Siduri. Of course, that just means there's more financial oomph behind what the Lees want to do, which is, "letting the individual place show through in the wines and encourage people to be honest in their reactions to the wines," according to Adam. "If our Pinots have real personality then someone is going to prefer one over another and we like to hear that."

He gets to hear that often at World of Pinot Noir, where he's been coming for over a decade. He loves to attend to "catch up with old friends. Some of these friends are consumers, others are fellow winemakers. But there’s a general sense of friendship and joy in hanging out together."

While that camaraderie is something he looks forward to, he's less looking forward to what's up with the weather. "This was supposed to be an El Nino year and a season where we caught up from the drought," he says. "Yet, here we are going into early March, and my vineyards in the Central Coast still are in the single digits when it comes to rainfall. This obviously has me worried." Worries about weather lead to worries about yield, and low yields can be troublesome for a winemaker like Lee who owns no vineyards of his own, despite having worked with several for many years. Only time will tell how many grapes he can get his hands on.

As for what he'll be pouring Friday, tasters can look forward to "a 3 year side-by-side of the Ewald Vineyard, 2012, 2013, 2014," he says. "These have been three extraordinarily great years in California for Pinot Noir, and I thought it would be fun to see the differences in the wines from these vintages." While Ewald, in the Russian River Valley, might not have huge cachet, it turns out it's 4 acres tucked behind famous names Kistler and Dehlinger. That is, we all better pay attention.

Clarissa Explains Pinot Noir to You

Some winemakers would no doubt be happy being featured at World of Pinot Noir once. But then again, most winemakers aren't Clarissa Nagy, who will be at the event three times (pouring sparkling at The Terroirists – from Bubbles to Burgundy on Friday in addition to pouring at both main tastings), representing both her own label cnagy and Riverbench, where she is winemaker.

Nagy modestly puts it this way, "My goal as a winemaker is to capture the essence of each vineyard or block. I want those enjoying my wines to experience the character and flavors that I taste while walking through the vineyard at harvest in the finished bottle of wine."

Indeed, she is one of the champions of the Santa Maria Valley, in both meanings of the word. "Our transverse mountain ranges draw in the ocean breezes and marine layer, which helps maintain our bright acids," she explains about what makes this region special. "The sandy soils and fossilized oyster shells lend to mineral, floral and brown, Chinese 5 spice notes."

If you want to taste her elegant wines, here's what will be available. "At the sparkling seminar, I'll be pouring the Riverbench Blanc de Noirs and Brut Rosé," she begins. "I'll be pouring the Riverbench Estate and Mesa Pinot Noir at the Focus Tasting on Friday. They are our flagship wines and are a great representation of Santa Maria Valley. At the Grand Tasting on Saturday, I'll be pouring cnagy Garey Ranch Pinot Noir. I chose it because it exhibits the floral and spice notes so prominent in Santa Maria Valley."

It's not surprising her palate is so refined as she studied Food Science at Cal Poly before ending up in winemaking. It certainly helps her provide some perspective. "Pinot Noir continues to gather momentum," she says. "Wine lovers at events regularly share with me about their love of Pinot Noir. It still surprises me at the number of wine drinkers who are just discovering Pinot Noir. A whole new world has just been opened to them."

You Need to Know Jack...Creek

Paso Robles tends to do its wine big. After all, it's hot there. They came up with that clever marketing cousin to the most interesting man in the world, Paso Wine Man. Justin was named Wine Enthusiast's American Winery of the Year for 2016. In Santa Barbara winemakers almost joke that if you ask a Paso winery "Which side of the 101 are you on?" you're not asking about the highway, but proof.

Well, like any broad brush, you can't tar everyone that way, at least fairly. And that's no more true than for Jack Creek Cellars, a Paso winery that makes, of all things, Pinot Noir. It helps the estate Kruse Vineyard is only seven miles from the Pacific. "We’re in the Paso Robles Willow Creek District and at that one of the most temperate climates in the region," says Brette Ann Womack, who is in charge of sales and marketing for owners Doug and Sabrina Kruse. "During the growing season we have a much more marine-like climate than what you would typically see in Paso. Our Pinots are similar to what you’d taste in Santa Rita Hills or warmer areas of Monterey County."

Jack Creek is a cautionary tale, however, when it comes to the recent drought years. Focusing on small production (they also make lovely Chardonnay, Grenache, and Syrah), low yield years like 2015 can be worrisome. "We’ve had to close our tasting room and wine club (The Wine Family) because the 2015 harvest offered extremely limited fruit," Womack explains. "So this year, while we’re serving our 2013 and 2014 vintages (some of the best to date) we are wary of 2017 when we’ll have barely any 2015 to serve. It’s too early to tell how the 2016 vintage will turn out, but we have high hopes for a stellar vintage, like the 2013 and 14."

That of course means getting the opportunity to taste their wines Friday at World of Pinot Noir is a special treat. "We only make two Pinots – our Estate and Reserve," Womack says. "The estate is a more traditional Pinot showing beautiful red fruit and earthiness; while the reserve is more robust, pretty big for Pinot Noir, showing darker fruits, rich oak notes, and firm tannins. We’ll also be bringing a few bottles of our 2015 Rosé of Pinot – it’s super limited so this will be a fun thing to sample!"

Gypsy Canyon's Deborah Hall Is in It for the Long Haul

I'd be writing about Deborah Hall even if she didn't say, "WOPN is where the magic happens." For her winery Gypsy Canyon is a place where magic happens, too, and that's not even talking about her nearly mythic mission grapes/ancient vines Angelica. She makes some of the best Pinot Noir in Sta. Rita Hills, and that's saying something. She gets press like The Wine Advocate to rave, "I came back to this wine often, and was consistently thrilled by what I tasted."

Much of that quality comes from keen attention. "I farm organically and live close with the vines," Hall says. "It was only then that I discovered the fragrance of the Pinot Noir flower. It can best be captured on a foggy morning as it hangs lightly in the air. The fragrance is not something I can describe. Just like the wine it can be elusive then surprise you with an experience you’ll never forget. My goal each vintage is to capture this fragrance, this experience, the pure reflective nature of Pinot and bring it to your glass."

Those at Saturday's tasting at World of Pinot Noir can reflect on two of Hall's wines. "Our signature Pinot, The Collector’s Pinot Noir 2013, presented in a hand blown bottle with hand made paper label and the cork sealed with estate bees wax" will be one wine, Hall points out. "We select the cream of the crop of the vintage for this bottling." The seocnd taste also exhibits Hall's connection to justice as well as good taste. "My philanthropic project, Ground Boots Pinot Noir 2013," she says, "100% of the profits are donated for animal welfare around the world. Not only do I love the wine, but the label is a treat too; it features art by renowned artist Donald Roller Wilson and prose by Oscar nominated screen writer Alec Sokolow."

As one very attuned to her historic vineyard, Hall admits about the past few vintages, "Mother nature being her natural self has created a roller coaster ride in the vineyard with high and low yields and historically early harvests. The vines naturally cope very well. It can be exciting for the optimist, this is after all what creates great vintages. Yet it can pose challenges for the winemaker. I am looking forward to coming out of the drought and the vines finding balance again. Let us all wash our cars and do the rain dance, anything for Pinot!"

Failla Is Ooh-la-la

Yes. that's a photo of Chardonnay, but it's the best shot I've got from a visit to Failla, which is in Napa a bit south of Calistoga, despite the winery mostly working with Sonoma grapes. Why winemaker Ehren Jordan and his wife Anne-Marie Failla (it's pronounced FAY-la) chose this spot for their  winery and cave would make sense to you, too, if you saw it, an idyllic acreage once owned by Cindy Pawlcyn of Mustards Grill fame.

But Jordan appears all about contradictions. For most first knew him as winemaker for Turley, and his brilliant but bombastic zins helped set the stage for big is beautiful in the late 1990s. So when people look at Failla, which mostly makes very well-balanced, low alcohol Chardonnays and, yes, Pinots, it might seem odd. Until you realize it simply means that's how good a winemaker Jordan is. He lets the grape set the tone; warm weather zin goes big, cold weather Burgundies have to be something else. No matter, all his wine is delicious.

"Our Pinot Noir is crafted to demonstrate history," is how national sales manager Cat Fairchild puts it. "With almost 30 years of experience, Ehren Jordan can undeniably capture the essence of each vintage. Thus, our wines are the ultimate story tellers. We do not ‘manipulate’ during our winemaking process and produce wines that are the purest expressions of the vineyard sites."

We're talking serious vineyard sites, too. There's the Gualala Ranch Estate Vineyard Jordan bought before the Sonoma Coast was cool (well, hip cool that is), but also the Whistler Vineyard in the northernmost bit of  the Sonoma coast, Keefer Ranch in Russian River Valley, and the Savoy Vineyard from Anderson Valley. In fact, at the Saturday tasting at World of Pinot Noir Failla will be pouring: the 2014 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, 2014 Keefer Ranch Pinot Noir, and 2014 Savoy Pinot Noir. "We picked these wine because they give a holistic vision of Failla," Fairchild explains. "Our wines are made in the same fashion, so it is great to showcases the characteristics of each vineyard site. Consumers can then compare and contrast the Anderson Valley, Russian River Valley, and the Sonoma Coast."

Tasting Failla is always a treat since you either have to be on the mailing list or at a good restaurant (in Santa Barbara think places like Downey's or Barbareno) to get some. But Jordan and his team like pouring, for as Fairchild says, "We are most looking forward to sharing our wines, while having direct contact with consumer. We believe our wines speak for themselves, but it is always important to us to open bottles of wine with folks because we are able to relay our story and share in the enjoyment! It is also fantastic to be in the company of so many outstanding Pinot Noir producers."

Lumen Lights the Pinot Way

So far in our run of stories, we've talked about folks who've been around for awhile, like the Hitching Post, and folks coming to World of Pinot Noir for the first time, like Balletto. And then there's a winery like Lumen, which is new (2012 is yesterday in the world of wine, and just imagine what the French might say), but the project of two wine veterans, Will Henry, who had 20 years of distro experience with his family's The Henry Group, and esteemed winemaker Lane Tanner, whose first vintage in the area was 1981 when she was oenologist for Firestone. She later made some of the region's best Pinots under her own label until she retired it in 2009.

"Being a newer winery certainly has its challenges," Henry admits. "For one, we have to make a name for ourselves in the marketplace, and we have done so by keeping our prices very low--which isn’t exactly easy in terms of getting a return on our money." And he does mean low--it's hard to get a Pinot this good at $29, or a Chard that good at $25. "Lane thinks I’m nuts for selling our wines for what we do, but I am more interested in long-term success than short-term gain. And I can’t tell you how much I learn from and SB vet like Lane--the education is invaluable. Regardless I think we are poised for great things ahead, and that we are part of a group of wineries that will certainly make big waves in the world of Pinot."

Henry doesn't think Lumen is alone with the wave-making, either. "I love making wine in a region that is on the cusp of becoming something much bigger than it currently is," he enthuses. "Even though we have had some pioneers (like my partner) making killer Pinot here for decades, Santa Barbara County has just in the past few years become more widely recognized as a producer of some of the world’s best wines. And unlike Napa, we aren’t selling an image--it’s all about what gets into the bottle. We have such an amazing group of winemakers here that are utterly dedicated to the craft, and are more focused on the quality of wine they produce than building monuments to their egos. SBC is the real deal, and I’m proud to be part of it."

It doesn't hurt he gets to work with a master like Tanner, who made food-friendly non-monster wines even before it had become cool to do so. No ego, indeed. "The message I most want to impart about Lumen Pinot is that it is real," Henry says. "This wine is not manipulated in any way. We source the very best fruit from cool-climate vineyards and make an extremely honest bottle of wine out of it. Lane’s winemaking abilities are truly phenomenal, and she has one of the most developed noses (yes, the one on her face) of any winemaker I have ever worked with. Her nose trumps any kind of lab analysis, so when we run into challenges in winemaking, we are usually way ahead of any problems that might arise. Our wines are super-clean, and extraordinarily well-balanced, due to Lane’s amazing winemaking ability. They also age extremely well."

Since Lumen is small and young, their table at Friday's tasting won't be huge. "We currently have only two Pinot Noir’s on the market--our Santa Barbara County, and our Sierra Madre Vineyard--and those are what we will be pouring," Henry explains. "The SBC is a great representation of Santa Maria Valley, where we source all of our Pinot fruit. We take from three vineyards there, and it is a fantastic (and affordable) cool-climate wine. The Sierra Madre Vineyard represents the apex of what Lane and I can produce. It has, over the past three decades, become Lane’s favorite vineyard, because the wines that it yields are the prettiest, most complex and interesting, year in, year out. This bottle contains a barrel selection from Sierra Madre Vineyard, from the best vintage of the decade so far (2013), and WOPN is a unique opportunity to taste it. More single vineyard Pinot’s are online for next year, though."

Even though Henry is also in the midst of another big project, opening up a restaurant, Pico, in Los Alamos, that doesn't dim his excitement for World of Pinot Noir. "There is a reason so many people are fanatical about this grape," he says. "It produces the most seductive wines in the world, and can have so many different personalities. I also love seeing how our little wine region of Santa Barbara County has become an important player in the world of wine, especially concerning this varietal. We truly are producing some of the best Pinots on the planet right here in our backyard."

Balletto's First Time to the Ball

 (photo courtesy Balletto Vineyards website)

Half the fun is catching hot wine waves before they break, and World of Pinot Noir gives you plenty of opportunities to do just that. Take Balletto Vineyards and Winery in Sonoma. John Balletto ran one of the largest vegetable farms north of the Golden Gate Bridge, but the late '90s El Nino storms and NAFTA were too hard to recover from. Luckily there were already some grapes planted, and today it's up to 600 acres of vines. Each year they keep 10% to make their wine and sell the rest of their fruit.


"This is our first visit to World of Pinot Noir, so I’m looking forward to being the new kid at the show, meeting a bunch of new people and showing off some awesome pinots," says Anthony Beckman, Balletto's winemaker. "I’m so happy with the 2014s that we are just releasing now and will be pouring. There’s also a group of friends who will be there, too, so I’m sure the evening after the pouring should be eventful. (As long as I make a noon flight the next day, it’s all good!)"

Fest-goers who make it to the Balletto table at the Friday tasting will sample what Beckman calls "a super fun lineup for the event. I’m starting with the 2014 Sonoma Coast blend called ‘18 Barrel.’ This might be the best—meaning most distinct, structured and age worthy—wine that I’ve made in the last 10 years. It’s a blend from my favorite three vineyards in the Sebastopol Hills area: Sexton Hill, Burnside Road and Cider Ridge. They are all are hillside, high-elevation plantings located about 10 miles from the Pacific. It’s a serious pinot. My second wine is from a warmer site, BCD Vineyard, and is a classic Russian River Valley wine with dark fruit and a nice weighty and hedonistic mid palate and finish. The third wine is a library release. I thought it would be fun to pour the very first vintage of Sexton Hill Pinot Noir (2011) right next to the most recently bottled vintage of Sexton Hill Pinot Noir (2014). These two wines together really show how nicely the Balletto Vineyards wines age. The tannins and grip on the 2011 have slowly mellowed and show a softer texture. The aromas have shifted away from the black tea/hibiscus tones that it had five years ago and that the 2014 is showing now."

Beckman wants to stress that "Balletto Vineyards is one of the few wineries in Russian River Valley that is 100 percent estate grown and estate bottled. That’s a huge advantage for us. I have been making Pinot Noir from the same estate vineyards for the last 10 years. We have complete control from pruning to bottling and everything in between. I can’t stress how important this is. I know all the good spots, the challenging spots, and at what flavor profile to pick each separate block. I can sense when to harvest grapes so they retain the right levels of natural acidity that give vibrancy to the wines. This knowledge comes only from working the same land year in and year out.

"Being an estate winery allows John Balletto, Balletto Vineyards founder and owner, and me to fine tune both the farming and the winery practices as needed. Our goal is to make distinct and bright Pinot Noirs that are lower in alcohol but still have the weight, structure, and balance reflecting our individual vineyards and, of course, are delicious to drink."

The varieties of delicious to drink will just keep growing since Balletto purchased a new Pinot Noir vineyard close to the Middle Reach of the Russian River Valley. "New vines will be going in this spring, which is incredibly exciting," Beckman claims. "The site is hilly with all sorts of different aspects and slopes. Right now, in the early stages, it’s like a first date when you’re trying to figure out what exactly will make this site happy."

Of course, customer happiness is the most important, and at Balletto Beckman says, "In the end, I think that drinkability and yumminess are as important as it gets. If the bottle is not empty by the end of dinner with a guest trying to drip out the last drabs, then it failed as a wine. Balletto Vineyards wines are seldom left half full."