2015 Occidental, Freestone-Occidental Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California, USA
Critics reviews
Lisa Perrotti-Brown - 31/07/2018
About this WINE
Occidental
Occidental is dedicated exclusively to the production of world class Pinot Noir from the Sonoma Coast. The state-of-the-art winery is just east of the town of Bodega on a ridge top, next to the Bodega Headlands Vineyard, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Following a hugely successful career at eponymous winery Kistler, Occidental is very much Steve Kistler’s family led project to make the best Pinots California has to offer.
The Occidental Station vineyard lies 15 miles further inland than the estate’s other vineyards. It was planted in 1998 by Steve Kistler, who has farmed the plot himself every year thereafter. It is the one wine in the range that is from a completely different ridge, on a site that is picked two weeks earlier than everywhere else. It is therefore a riper style yet one that is still undeniably ‘Occidental’.
The Freestone-Occidental Pinot noir includes a blend of fruit from Bodega Headlands, Occidental Station, and Bodega Ridge vineyards. It also shares the same winemaking techniques as the vineyard-designated Pinot, the only difference being that the provenance is wider.
Sonoma County
North Coast's Sonoma County is California's largest AVA with 19,800 ha (2005) of vines. It has forever been the home of the meek and mild small grower as compared to the grandeur and might of neighbour Napa; more picturesque too, as much of the sandy, gravely loam land belonged to true orchards and fruit farms until the 1970s.
Sonoma Valley covers a small part of Sonoma County but its wines often outshine its illustrious neighbours in Napa County. Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon are cultivated here with much success. Sonoma Valley has long enjoyed a special place in the history of California wine. The first vineyards in the valley were planted by Franciscan monks in 1823. In 1857 Agoston Haraszthy, one of the founding fathers of California's commercial winemaking, opened here the highly successful Buena Vista Winery.
Closer to the coast are the region's top producing AVAs for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay: Russian River, Sonoma Coast and Green Valley, while the slightly warmer Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys have earned a reputation as a hotspot for Cabernet, and increasingly, Zinfandel and Merlot.
Recommended producers
Ridge, Teira, Williams & Selyem, Rochioli are definitely worth investigating.
Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir is probably the most frustrating, and at times infuriating, wine grape in the world. However when it is successful, it can produce some of the most sublime wines known to man. This thin-skinned grape which grows in small, tight bunches performs well on well-drained, deepish limestone based subsoils as are found on Burgundy's Côte d'Or.
Pinot Noir is more susceptible than other varieties to over cropping - concentration and varietal character disappear rapidly if yields are excessive and yields as little as 25hl/ha are the norm for some climats of the Côte d`Or.
Because of the thinness of the skins, Pinot Noir wines are lighter in colour, body and tannins. However the best wines have grip, complexity and an intensity of fruit seldom found in wine from other grapes. Young Pinot Noir can smell almost sweet, redolent with freshly crushed raspberries, cherries and redcurrants. When mature, the best wines develop a sensuous, silky mouth feel with the fruit flavours deepening and gamey "sous-bois" nuances emerging.
The best examples are still found in Burgundy, although Pinot Noir`s key role in Champagne should not be forgotten. It is grown throughout the world with notable success in the Carneros and Russian River Valley districts of California, and the Martinborough and Central Otago regions of New Zealand.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
Medium ruby-purple colored, the 2015 Pinot Noir Freestone-Occidental has super intense notes of redcurrants, black raspberries, black cherries and violets with hints of dark chocolate, cinnamon stick and smoked meats plus a waft of underbrush. Wonderfully elegant in the mouth with vibrant black and red fruits, earth and savory layers, it has a firm frame of finely grained tannins and wonderful freshness, finishing long with an exciting herbal lift. Around 2,000 cases were produced.
Lisa Perrotti-Brown - 31/07/2018
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