Behind the Cork™ - County Line Pinot Noir

2020 County Line Pinot Noir ($32)

This County Line Pinot Noir is from California’s Sonoma Coast.

The first vintage of County Line was solely dedicated to producing a dry Rosé from a whole-cluster pressed Champagne clone of Pinot Noir. Subsequently, they followed with a handful of varietals including this Pinot.

County Line Vineyards uses traditional winemaking techniques, and a shorter élevage in neutral French oak barrels for stainless steel tanks. Each of their wines is made to provide a snapshot of one of their cool-climate appellations that include the Anderson Valley, Sonoma Coast, Russian River, and the North Coast.

This 2020 County Line Pinot Noir was produced from organically grow fruit, was barrel aged for 10 months in neutral French oak and bottled unfiltered.

It is pale ruby in color with the distinctive cranberry aroma of a Pinot Noir. On the palate it has flavors of sour cherry, raspberry and cranberry, is light in tannin and medium in acidity.

This is a tasty Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir that fits right in as the Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week. Look for it on-line from County Line Vineyards and also from STOMPY. Cheers!

Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission: I received this sample at no cost for review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Sample Provided by Rebekah Polster 401 West Communications, STOMPY and County Line Vineyards

Behind the Cork™ - Merry Edwards Somona Coast Pinot Noir

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2017 Merry Edwards Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ($48)

This Merry Edwards Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir comes from six vineyards that include the 115, 667 and 777 blend of Dijon clones that originated in teh cool Burgundian region of France.

The 2017 harvest of these vineyards is described as “diminutive” and resulted in just 1700 cases being produced.

Merry states “This Pinot Noir shows off the virtues of grapes grown on the southernmost boundary of the Russian River Valley. Here the cooling influence of coastal fog allows the fruit to ripen slowly.”

This is an elegant and delicate Pinot Noir. It features wonderful red cherry, raspberry and cranberry flavors with luscious soft tannins with a long and easy finish.

I first came to love Pinot Noir from Sonoma and this Merry Edwards Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir is an excellent example of wines from this region. You won’t go wrong with this one. It’s wonderful. Cheers!

Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission: I received this sample at no cost for review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Sample Provided by Jill Schlegel of Merry Edwards Winery

Behind the Cork™ - Pfendler Vineyards Chardonnay

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2018 Pfendler Vineyards Sonoma Coast Chardonnay ($45)

This 100% Chardonnay comes from Pfendler Vineyards which is located in the hillsides of Sonoma Mountain in the Sonoma Coast region.

The Petaluma Gap is sub-region of the Sonoma Coast that has its own unique terroir.

This Pfendler Chardonnay is whole-cluster pressed, allowed to settle overnight before being racked off the heavy lees into barrels for native fermentation on its fine lees. It then undergoes light stirring while undergoing malolactic conversion. It is aged 14 months in 50% new French oak before being bottled unfined and unfiltered.

This winemaking process leads to this Chardonnay having unique flavors of peach compote, nectarine, green apple and lime. There also seems to be hints of straw and minerality along with just a bit of acidity on the finish.

This is a very limited production Chardonnay from Pfendler (250 cases). So, look carefully for this one and enjoy. Cheers!

Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission: I received this wine at no cost for review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Sample Provided by Anika Crone, Jarvis Communications

Behind the Cork™ - Pfendler Pinot Noir

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2018 Pfendler Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ($55)

Nestled in the hillside of Sonoma Mountain, Pfendler Vineyards is a small, family-owned winery. And this limited production Pinot Noir is a wonderful example of their excellence.

This is 100% Pinot Noir that underwent a five-day cold soak, followed by 48 hours warm-up to a spontaneous native yeast fermentation. Thus, spending 13 days on the skins for enhanced flavor. Native secondary fermentation is carried out in the barrel. It then spends 14 months in French oak, 50% of which was new oak.

Winemaker Erica Stancliff joined Pfendler just in time to complete the final blending of this 2018 Pinot Noir. She describes it as “Brilliant ruby in color, with luxurious aromas of black raspberry, plum, black tea, violets, herbs and tobacco. On the palate, flavors of blackberry, red apple, cherry, clove, baker’s chocolate are balanced by fine-grain tannins and long, layered finish.” Well said, indeed.

I found this Pfendler Pinot Noir to have aromas of cherry and raspberry with big, bright red cherry flavor, very soft tannin, noticeable acidity on the back-end and a very delicate, long-lasting finish.

This is a wonderful Pinot Noir from Sonoma’s Petaluma Gap that stands with the best. With only 250 cases being produced this may be difficult to find but well worth searching for. Cheers!

Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission: I received this wine at no cost for review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Sample Provided by Anika Crone, Jarvis Communications