Peay Ama Pinot Noir

 I quite enjoy US Pinot Noir from time to time. It needs to come from one of the better producers in Sonoma or Willamette Valley. Given the dramatic price increases of premium Australian Pinot Noir (e.g. Bindi, by Farr, Place of Changing Winds), the US wines are not too expensive now. What I enjoy about these wines in comparison to Burgundy is the somewhat dialed-up fruit flavours, as long as the structure is still good. 

I was looking forward to this 2019 Peay Ama Pinot Noir, given I liked the 'standard' blended Pinot Noir quite a lot. This wine comes from the West Sonoma Coast, the new hot bed of Pinot Noir in the US, as the ocean and frequent frog provide cooler temperatures and humidity as well. The owners are quite meticulous, splitting the vineyards in 25 blocks, and also growing a number of different clones.

However, what often happens, the best, i.e. ripest grapes are reserved for the single vineyard wine, whereas the rest goes into the blended wine. In this case, the wine is more concentrated, but also quite fruity and ripe. The red cherry and strawberry flavours are nice, but the overall mouthfeel is a bit flabby. The wine is not very acidic. The tannins are silky, but very light.

Score: 90/-

Peay Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

 Buying American wine in Australia, or anywhere else for that matter, is always a difficult value for money equation. Peay Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir is somewhat of an exception. The wine is priced like a blended wine from purchased fruit, but in this case, it is all Estate fruit at relatively low yields. The vineyards are only 4km from the coast. The grapes benefit from frequent fog and overnight cooler temperatures, and avoid the heat spikes further inland.

A couple of nights ago, I poured the 2019 Peay Sonoma Cost Pinot Noir. The wine has an appealing aromatic nose of rose petals and hibiscus. Red and black cherry fruit is blended on the palate with mild savoury notes of forest floor. This delivers an appealing, slightly soft mouthfeel. The wine is framed by solid acidity and dry tannins.

This wine has all the ingredients of a great wine, but it ultimately lacks some depth and drive for it to be outstanding.

Score: 94/++

  

Hirsch Vineyards Horizontal Tasting

 I was attracted to Hirsch Vineyards for a couple of reasons. It is not located in the heart of Sonoma, where Pinot Noirs can be big and bold, but rather at Sonoma Coast, where the climate is cooler and wetter. And Secondly, because the owners have gone through a big effort to identify individual blocks which have different soil and aspect characteristics, and are bottled separately. The last few days, I compared three of their wines from 2016.

The first wine I review here is the best of barrels 2016 Reserve. As is often the case with best of barrels wines, this wine is overdone, in my view. The wine has good concentration of red and black cherry fruit, but it is not very precise or differentiated. It shows some fruit ripeness, but also green components. The tannins are dry and long before the wine finishes firm, but a little dull.

Score: 90/0

Then I look at the 2016 East Ridge. The peculiar aspect of this steep sloped vineyard is that two thirds of the vines have phylloxera. The owners say it is very carefully managed, and I quite like this wine, particularly on the second day. It is more restrained than the Reserve with red cherry and savoury earthy flavours. The wine has better balance overall, but the tannins are still quite plucky.

Score: 92/+

The third wine is the 2016 Block 8, regarded by the owners as their grand cru. There are concentrated red fruits on the palate, but the overriding feature is the high level of acidity, backed by firm tannins. Again, I did not find this wine all that pleasing to drink.

Score: 91/0

While the wines are not bad, I found this tasting experience disappointing. I did not see the terroir coming through all that much, and I missed any kind of enchantment I like to associate with good Pinot Noir.