Maker's Table

Sheldon Pinot Noir, Roma’s Vineyard

Sheldon Wines
Pinot Noir “Roma’s Vineyard” Anderson Valley
2010
13.4% ABV | Price: about $45 (media sample)

Roma’s Vineyard rolls along a ridge top overlooking Boonville, California, in the northern corner of the Anderson Valley. At 1,800 feet above sea level, the pinot noir vines wash in cooling breezes and toss in the storms that thunder through every fall.

It’s a special place, wild and remote, says Tobe Sheldon, who with husband Dylan Sheldon sources fruit from this planting of Pommard clones. The eight-acre property is off-grid, and while it’s fenced against deer, “we don’t get to harvest the back couple of acres,” she says. “There are black bears that do that for us.”

Two thousand and ten was an especially cool vintage, and the fruit hung on the vines three weeks beyond normal harvest dates. Even then, it only hit 22.5° Brix, about 10% below average. Two of the lots were cold soaked, crushed, and fermented in open-top vessels without sulfur addition, while a third was whole-cluster fermented for added structure. The wine was pressed off into 2- and 3-year barrels to retain the wine’s focus and aromatics. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered.

The resulting wine is elegant and limpid, a clear pale rose color with burnished highlights. While it’s fragrant with red fruits, it’s not sweetly fruity—it’s more herbaceous, like the smell of a warm, very ripe, sweet tomato. Earthy, spicy scents ride this aromatic current, too. On the tongue it feels fine-boned but vibrant, with a mineral-driven finish.

I poured this wine with a quick sauté of shrimp, spring peas, sundried tomatoes, and lemon-infused oil, which I tossed with linguine. Red wine with shrimp? Yes—at least this one. Its acidity, herbal fruits, freshness, and supple structure harmonized beautifully with the dish.

“Vines, like people, need to be challenged to build character,” says Toby Sheldon. Evidently, Roma’s vines rose to the challenge in 2010, yielding a wine of great vitality and spirit. And admirably—adroitly—the winemakers let this spirit shine.

Sancerrious

Franck et Jean-Francois Bailly
Sancerre "Cuvée Chavignol"
2007
13.0% ABV | Price: about $25*

Red Sancerre is made exclusively, in accordance with France's AC laws, with pinot noir grapes. This one is fine-boned and intense. Pale garnet with a faint peach cast at the rim, when swirled it gives off slightly earthy, smoky aromas with undertones of black plums. Brightly acidic with great minerality and a slightly spicy cut, it finishes lean. After a few minutes in the glass, it opens the windows and brushes out its hair. But it's a restrained wine; its dressing gown stays on.

It is also resoundingly a food wine. I paired it with an aged french goat cheese, a Bûcheron with a white rind, both born of the same soil, nearly. The wine married effortlessly with the chalky, gaminess of the cheese, and a sip after a bite was like spring after winter: clean, bright, cleansing.

My ancestors hail from the Loire. I'll have to visit soon.

 

*I received this wine as a press sample.

Tinged, Not Tainted

Navarro Vineyards
Anderson Valley Deep End Blend Pinot Noir
2008
13.8% ABV | Price: about $36

"Dear Navarro Friend," the letter began, "We need your opinion, which is why we are sending you this sample bottle at no charge."

The friend in question is a friend of mine, a member of Navarro's pre-release program. Last summer he purchased futures of this 2008 Pinot, and this September was to receive six bottles.

But 2008 was an unusual season in California, with over 500 lightning complex wildfires flaring up during June and July. Many vineyards were shrouded in smoke during fruit development, leading to fears of smoke taint, a complex and poorly understood condition in which compounds in the smoke penetrate the grapes' skin and vegetation, influencing the flavor of the finished wine. (Read an excellent primer on smoke taint from Reign of Terroir, and an article on the 2008 wildfires from Wine Spectator.)

Mendocino County was particularly affected, as a thick layer of smoke lay over the vineyards for nearly three weeks. Pinot noir grapes, the kind in this wine, are thought to be especially susceptible to taint. "Reactions to the smokiness have been wildly varied," Navarro's letter continued. "One concerned friend sampled the wine, emptied it into the kitchen sink, opened a 2007 instead, and then wrote an impassioned email recommending that we recall the wine. The next day another faithful customer wrote us about the same wine: 'I opened it with some trepidation because of the smoke issue. But I was happily surprised. There is no issue.'"

So, rather than simply bank the cash and ship the wine as previously agreed, Navarro decided to let its customers decide, shipping each a free single bottle, saying Try it. Let us know. If you like it, we'll send it to you, knocking ten dollars off the price. If you don't like it, we'll credit you or ship a substitute.

Give Navarro a gold star for transparency, plus one more for customer service.

It's smoky. Not a toasty-oak kind of smoky, not a caramel or vanilla smoky, but a minerally scorched-earth smoky, like charred vegetation, roasted landscape, woodsmoke, campfire. But the smokiness is evenly balanced with juicy ripe aromas of red fruit: it also smells pinot-y, varietally correct, with a fresh, brilliant edge. The smoke is there on the palate, too, but happily just one element of the flavor profile, adding a dark edge to this young wine.

The wine is fine on its own, interesting and almost, but not quite, a curiosity, because the smoke flavors aren't overwhelming. But it really sang last night when we tasted it with a pork shoulder I'd been smoking on the grill for five hours. These two were perfect partners, the light-bodied Pinot a match for the pale, juicy center of the cut, and the smokiness marrying beautifully with the meat's crackling outer layers.

The verdict? Ship it.