Earlier this week I attended a fairly intimate gathering of primarily Pinot Noir producers from the Sonoma and Mendocino at Jardiniere Restaurant in San Francisco with the theme being wines coming from sites that exemplify eXtreme Terroir (sic).

I was familiar with virtually all of the producers and it represented a high powered lineup of some of the most sought after wines in the region: Copain, Littorai. Bjornstad, Peay, Kosuge, Failla, Hirsch, Whetstone, and the principal owners, or winemakers were there to discuss their wines.

One of my pet peeves at tastings is a poorly put together catalog requiring more research in order to followup with contact or pricing. Additionally it helps if the producers and the wines they are pouring are in the same order listed in the catalog and include the full description of the wine. My hat is off to Jasmine Hirsch  for the organization as everything was in synch throughout. Clipboards and plenty of room on the page to write notes.

I rarely take exhaustive notes at walk-around tastings and try to avoid the log-jammed tables, so I didn’t get around to everyone and skipped notes on wines I felt fell short. Consider the following to be general impressions only.

I began with Chardonnay and other whites:

2007 Bjornstad Cellars Chardonnay Porter-Bass Vineyard, Sonoma Coast; DW 90

bright nose of lemon and licorice. Nice acidity with crisp mineral and citrus on the palate

2007 Hirsch Vineyards Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast; DW 92

pretty leesy in the nose, and showed rich and bright on the palate - excellent pedigree

2007 Whetstone Wine Cellars Viognier Catie’s Corner Vineyard, Russian River Valley; DW 90

rich and creamy nose with white peach aromas. Clean and focused on the palate with nice texture

PINOT NOIR

2006 Bjornstad van der Kamp Vineyard, Sonoma Coast; DW 91

pretty nose, delicate and ripe with dusty strawberry and raspberry. Nice palate focus of floral and spice

2006 Bjornstad Hellenthal Vineyard, Sonoma Coast; DW 90

nice floral notes in the nose with flavors of strawberry, cherry and spice 

2007 B. Kosuge The Shop, Carneros; DW 92

bright nose of cherry with some pretty floral, geranium on the palate

2007 B. Kosuge Hirsch Vineyards, Sonoma Coast; DW 92

very pretty, elegant and brightly focused raspberry and creamy cherry

2006 B. Kosuge Manchester Ridge, Mendocino; DW 91

rich, forward nose with spicy cherry on the palate

2007 Hirsch Vineyards “M” Sonoma Coast; DW 94

delicate, penetrating nose with an impeccably balanced palate and beautiful texture - what Pinot should taste like

2006 Hirsch Vineyards Hirsch, Sonoma Coast; DW 94

beautiful stuff, excellent cherry, mineral and red raspberry. Excellent focus and delicacy throughout

Clearly, the Hirsch Vineyard was really shining (with four wines over 90 points) and has been on a roll for a while now!

Websites:

Bjornstad

B. Kosuge

Hirsch

Whetstone