2020 Occidental, Freestone-Occidental Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California, USA

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.