A Tale of Two Vineyards

As promised last time, we begin this week on our virtual tasting tour of the cellar. Of course it's not quite as much fun in print as it is in person but at least you will get an impression of the process and more importantly, the wines at City Winery.

Let's start with our pair of Pinot Noirs. While made from the same grape these two wines are among the most strikingly distinctive in our cellar. The first is from the Bacigalupi vineyard located in Sonoma's Russian River Valley, one of the few regions in California where the fickle Pinot Noir grape does exceedingly well. These were among the first grapes we received this past autumn. In fact, this lot was already fermented and pressed by the time our Oregon Pinot Noir was picked! Having had nearly a month more time barrel it was more developed than most of the lots we tasted in the cellar. Overall the Bacigalupi showed lovely dark cherry and ripe blackberry flavors with candied apple notes. The impact of the oak was already evident both on the nose and the palate with aromas of cloves, cocoa, and menthol arising from different barrels. Of the new barrels, we were particularly pleased with those made by Dargaud & Jaegle constructed with wood from the Allier region of France. Of the neutral older barrels we found those from Francois Freres to be lovely.

While we taste every barrel we also consider all the barrels together as complete expression of the wine. Thus we also tasted a composite of all the Bacigalupi Pinot Noir barrels. Sometimes complexities and hidden dimensions are revealed in a composite blend. Just as often, each barrel in a lot shines with its unique properties. In this case the composite was gorgeous. It incorporated the elements of the best barrels but also displayed a captivating velvety suppleness. We were very pleased. But as I mentioned before, these wines are still in their infancy so one must be circumspect when tasting at this stage. There is still a long way to go before they are finished wines. They're off to a splendid start and we will do all we can to ensure that they grow up to be fine upstanding adults in a year or two.

In the cellar we next moved to the Oregon Pinot Noir from the Olsen Family vineyard which is nestled in the Willamette Valley's Eola Hills. The fruit arrived at city winery in outstanding condition and the primary fermentation went very smoothly. Pinot Noir has a well-deserved reputation for being among the most fickle of grapes both in the vineyard and in the winery but both our Pinot Noir lots this year have been very cooperative. As is typical for Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, our wine displays bing cherry, pomegranate and elusive blueberry aromas on the nose. On the palate it showed raspberry, cherry and yellow plum flavors balanced by bright acidity, finishing off with a touch of nutmeg, sage and coffee. Again we found the Dargaud & Jaegle Allier to be most flattering cooper but there was not a disappointing barrel in the lot. Not a bad afternoon of work.

City Winery vinified a portion of the Olsen Pinot Noir Kosher but I'll cover that in a special Kosher wine entry. Just to let you know, it too is delicious but has its own character.

City Winery barrel members have the unique opportunity to taste their wine at every stage of its life so we really want to see you here in the barrel cellar often.

For both these Pinot Noirs we've selected a few of the most appealing barrels which are still available so if you've been hanging on the fence, please make an appointment to stop by and taste.

Next time I'll cover our two lots of Syrah. Once again they are a fascinating pair to compare and contrast.

David Lecomte / Robert Kowal