Kistler - Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2022 (750ml)
Price: $84.99
| Producer | Kistler |
| Country | United States |
| Region | California |
| Subregion | Sonoma Coast |
| Varietal | Pinot Noir |
| Vintage | 2022 |
| Sku | 7032 |
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The Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir is a combination of Kistler's single vineyards, the exact proportions of which are an elusive bit of information to find, but we do know the proportions come from the four coastal vineyards: Laguna Ridge (formerly known as Kistler Vineyard), Silver Belt (bottled individually as Cuvée Natalie), Occidental Station (bottled individually as Cuvée Catherine), and Bodega Headlands (and potentially some fruit from Running Fence). Just like its big brothers, the Sonoma Coast designate is fermented in small open top fermenters and the free run juice is barrel aged and remains in barrel for fourteen to eighteen months until bottling.
Kistler, while distinctly California, has from inception, adopted a very 'French' process, seeing themselves as wine growers first. Like the Cistercian Monks in Burgundy of centuries past, Kistler focuses on fine-tuning a single clonal selection of Chardonnay, and continuing to improve it via proper site and massale selection. The work is identical with their two Pinot Noir selections, originally of Grand Cru Burgundy clippings, that have evolved in their Cali vineyards over the past twenty-five years. The intention is to set themselves up for success - the best bunch selections from their already fine-tuned massale plantings in the best locations, allowed to ferment on their own, and aged in exclusively-selected barrels, the staves for which are specifically isolated, air-dried and crafted into barrels three years later.
In other words, they control as much as they can from a qualitative, hierarchal perspective, and then let nature run its course. Where and how Kistler chooses to focus its energies, is a manner that must be respected as any great vigneron.
