Don's Gillette's Weekly Wine Blog
Weekly musings from our store's resident wine guru
Don has over thirty years experience in the wine industry. For the last eighteen years his attention has been focused on the growing local industry. Don has a large following of customers who search out his opinions (never in short supply!) on new releases and on what's currently most distinctive on our shelves. Others seek his insights on wineries and trends that are still under the radar. Check back here each week for Don's latest thoughts on various wine-related topics. Read Don's full bio...
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Vineyards
We get daily questions about all the new Pinot Noir Vineyards. The market for fine Pinot is booming and dozens of new properties appear annually. Some are winery driven and some are grower projects offered to multiple vintners. Often, in a now well-established pattern, they represent the next logical step in the evolution of their appellation.
Until recent years, the idea of a California parallel to Burgundy's "Cote d'Or" was laughable, yet we now have at least five important Pinot appellations. California's struggle with, and eventual conquering of, the Pinot grape followed the realization that our lack of authentic Burgundian clones was the primary issue, and the flood of fine bottlings now available is a direct result of growers procuring the more appropriate clones.
Each of our Pinot Noir friendly areas has evolved in more or less the same way. The development of the Santa Lucia Highlands appellation illustrates the process. When Gary Pisoni planted the SLHs first important vineyard, with cuttings reportedly sourced from Burgundy's famous La Tache vineyard, winemakers throughout the state began to bid for his fruit, driving up prices. His financial success spawned a new vineyard called Gary's (named for owners Gary Pisoni & Gary Francione). It was cloned from Pisoni.
As they learned to better manage Pisoni's fruit, vintners found it worth the hefty investment and they were now eager for fruit from Garys'. Many in fact, came to believe that the Gary's property was better than Pisoni. This helped justify the planting of the many important properties that now dot that landscape. SLH vintners are now gambling on new vineyards like Tondres Grapefield, a name that will soon appear on the label of half a dozen wineries.
This same 20 year progression has been paralleled in the Russian River, as names like Rochioli, Sanchetti, Keefer, Tara and Amber Ridge illustrate. In the Sonoma Coast, Hirsch Vineyard began the cycle and in Mendocino, Floodgate and others did the same. Sanford Vineyard was the Santa Rita Hills pioneer.
Why certain vineyards gain adherents so quickly is a bit of a mystery. Clearly winemaker intuition plays a part, as must price and supply, and some vineyards look attractive, as they are large enough to guarantee supply in the future, so wineries won't get 'pinched' for grapes, as has happened at Pisoni and Keefer.
The evolution of a vineyard is a bit of a gamble, if an intriguing one. We recently sent our Pinot customers an email offering for a 'new vineyard' Pinot pack, with twelve examples.* Halleck Winery had two new vineyards in that pack - one from Hallberg vineyard and one from The Farm. I told everyone who asked, that I thought the Hallberg was the better of the two. Now our customers are reordering The Farm over the Hallberg by about six to one. There is a learning curve with new vineyards for winemakers and for everyone else. Sometimes we retailers learn the most from their own customers.
* If you are a good Pinot customer and did not get this offer, ask us about how to adjust your email servers spam block so you can get these in the future.