2011 Sawyer Lindquist Pinot Noir Magnum

The grapes were fermented with 45% whole clusters using the grapes’ native yeasts.  The wine was punched down by hand twice a day in open top fermenters.  The wine was then aged for a year and a half in 50% new Françoise Fréres Burgundy barrels.

2011 was a very cool vintage.  In Edna Valley we typically had a heavy marine layer that would barely burn off by mid-day and return in the early evening.  Because of the small crop size and optimum hill side growing site, the Pinot Noir achieved perfect ripeness with enough acidity to make this a well-structured wine of great finesse.

The 2011 Pinot Noir exhibits pretty berry perfume with hints of crushed autumn leaves.  It is elegant and balanced and reveals flavors of fresh cherries and rose petals that are framed with hints of tea, spice and toasted oak.

2011 Sawyer Lindquist Pinot Noir, Edna Valley

Score: 93 / YEAR’S BEST Wine & Spirits

The 2011 introduces itself with a distinctly funky barnyard aroma but is all energy in the mouth: bright and feathery, backed by a saline, almost coppery mineral tone, while the use of 50 percent whole clusters comes through in suggestions of beetroot, tobacco and leather. It’s a sort of Nuits-like take on coastal pinot noir, firm and savory but lifted. Open a bottle with grilled fennel-stuffed whole branzino.