$ 89.99
New release from Beaux-Freres owner Mike Etzel's new label, Sequitur. Tiny production.
Now in its third year of production, the Sequitur vineyard is beginning to reveal its personality through the clonal diversity and the surrounding environment. The vineyard site is slightly higher in elevation than its adjacent neighbor, the Beaux Freres Upper Terrace, allowing us to pick at a slower pace. In 2016, we harvested the grapes at three times, the last pick eight days later than the first.
94 Points Wine Spectator: "Pale to medium ruby-purple in color, the 2016 Sequitur Pinot Noir has a lovely, open nose of black and red cherries and blackberries with notions of wood smoke, turned earth, autumn leaves, cardamom and potpourri. Medium-bodied, it floods the mouth with ripe black and red fruits with wonderful earthy/spicy accents, very fine, grainy tannins and mouthwatering acidity, finishing long with spice and floral layers
93 Points Wine Spectator: "Polished and rich, with a refined and complex core, offering black raspberry, sandalwood and spice flavors that take on power toward fine-grained tannins. Drink now through 2025."
Mike D. Etzel has been the co-owner and winemaker at Beaux Frères since the late 1980s and began planting a vineyard adjacent to Beaux Freres in 2010. He then launched a new project with partner Carey Critchlow known as Sequitor. The inaugural Pinot Noir under the Sequitur label was the 2014 vintage.
$ 54.99
96 Points
One of the best new Pinot Noir producers in California! The partners, who all previously worked at Williams Selyem, are deeply committed to crafting high quality, cool climate single vineyard Pinot Nor, Syrah and Chardonnay sourced from vineyards in Northern California. Limited.
94 Points Robert Parker: "Medium ruby-purple, the 2020 Pinot Noir Comptche Ridge is scented of pomegranate, blueberry, tea leaves, mushrooms and forest floor. The medium-bodied palate offers an intense core of perfumed berry fruit supported by grainy tannins and bright acidity, and it finishes long and sapid. Drink it now for its plush, alluring fruit."
previous vintage 96 Points Antonio Galloni (Vinous): "Another stellar wine in this range, the Anthill Farms Pinot Noir Comptche Ridge is fabulous. In this vintage, the Comptche Ridge is a bit richer and deeper than it has been, while avoiding some of the austerity this wine can show. Beguiling in its aromatics and finely sculpted, the 2018 is marvelously complex. There is plenty of tannin, and the acids are bright (as they are for all these wines), but the 2018 is deep and so multi-faceted. It will appeal most to readers who enjoy taut, structured reds."
Located a few miles from the Pacific Ocean, this vineyard sits near the tiny town of Annapolis, and is farmed by Steve Campbell. At approximately 750 feet above sea level, it sits right at the boundary of the marine layer, ensuring that the cool, coastal climate delays ripening well beyond the warmer vineyards to the east. The two-decade-old vines grow on sandy, low-vigor Goldridge soil, which helps reduce yields to near two tons per acre.
$ 99.99
$ 49.99
Rare new Pinot Noir from renowned winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown and Schrader Cellars: introducing Aston Estate. Limited.
Aston Estate, founded in 2001, is an exceptional Sonoma-based collaboration between winemaker Thomas Brown, vintner Fred Schrader, and as Schrader Cellars coins, "Secret Weapon, Mr. Big." Part of the Schrader umbrella, the 40 acre-estate along the Sonoma Coast produces exclusively Pinot Noir that is classically styled with rich and elegant palate profiles.
The Aston Estate 2020 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir is a deep, dark, and structured wine from a strong, well-rounded vintage. The wine displays an almost completely opaque dark purple hue in the glass. Exotic aromas of bay leaf, macerated bramble fruit, blood orange and cedar bough emerge from the glass in concert. The palate is defined by mouth-watering freshness from front to back, marked by notes of fresh earth, cherry reduction, crushed rock and primrose. There is so much generosity and complexity to this wine, only time will tell what great notions will come to light in the bottle.