A Pause for Pinot
A challenging 2006 slows the run of excellent vintages for California Pinot Noir
James Laube
Posted: September 30, 2008
Nature provided an obstacle course for California Pinot Noir in 2006. Some wineries navigated the track with relative ease, producing ripe, complex wines that offer delicacy and depth. But for other vintners, there were simply too many hurdles to achieve the kind of success realized over the past few vintages. In general, the '06 wines are simpler, with less berry and red fruit flavors and more herbal and green touches.
Since our last report ("An Elegant Year for California Pinot Noir," Sept. 30, 2007), we've reviewed nearly 650 Pinots in our Napa office. More than 400 of these are from 2006, which so far has produced fewer outstanding wines than any vintage since 2000, another challenging growing season. But it speaks well for the category that winemakers have proven more reliable at turning out wines with 90-plus ratings, with 14 percent of the '06s rated outstanding compared with 7 percent of all 2000s. This is a marked improvement in the overall quality delivered in a problematic vintage, since more than twice as many wines are now produced each year. (Indeed, the realm of California Pinot Noir is expanding rapidly, with dozens of new sites making new wines every year; see "New Faces.")
Yet the percentage of outstanding 2006s is clearly down from recent years, as comparisons with the excellent 2005 and 2004 vintages reveal (about 23 percent of '05s and 34 percent of '04s rated outstanding). But although 2006 is variable in quality, there are many very good wines in the mix—solid Pinots that scored between 87 and 89 points on the Wine Spectator 100-point scale and are more than worth your attention. Moreover, there are many outstanding 2005 Pinots among recent releases, so there's no shortage of options for fans of this varietal. (An alphabetical list of all wines tasted for this report is available.)
Sonoma, which includes Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast, and Anderson Valley, in Mendocino, field the strongest performance in 2006 (89 points each). Sonoma dominates in terms of individual wines produced, with more than 170 '06s reviewed so far. Carneros saw the weakest year (with only one outstanding wine among 24 reviewed), while the other key areas—Monterey and Santa Barbara—experienced good but unexceptional growing seasons.
The challenges growers and vintners faced in 2006 began with a wet spring, which triggered early and heavy vine vigor complicated by botrytis. The harvest met with a cool fall that stalled ripening. Many wineries that produced very ripe, opulently flavored wines in previous years had greener, trimmer versions in 2006. The key is balance, and even though some '06s are medium-bodied and short on depth, those that achieved greater ripeness offer more flavor, body, complexity and length.
Despite efforts to thin the crop, yields were high due to copious moisture. Spring was one of the wettest on record, further pushing growth and crop load. Work in the vineyard included more than the usual rounds of thinning, both before and after veraison, when the grapes begin to develop color. Once that happens, grapes that are still green are removed in the hope of achieving a uniform level of ripeness. At Londer Vineyards in Anderson Valley, Larry Londer says the crop was so large that even after thinning, "there were as many grapes on the ground as there were on the vine."
"We had a very good set, which led to quite a bit of fruit," says Michael Browne of Kosta Browne, a Sonoma winery that produced eight outstanding Pinots from 2006. "We did our usual thinning pass to loosen up the fruit zone. The fruit kept growing bigger and bigger, so in some vineyards we did it again prior to veraison."
Still, the volume stunned him. "I could not believe how much fruit was out there," Browne says. "In some vineyards, we literally had carpets of fruit on the ground [after thinning]. If we were not as aggressive as we had been with the thinning, I think we would have had wines that were a bit dilute." The hollowness he refers to showed up in many of the wines we reviewed.
Another challenge was botrytis, which imparts both an earthiness and a curious, sweetish marmalade edge to the wines. Since 2005 was also a cool year, "the [botrytis] spores were out there more than usual [in 2006]," Browne says. "With the damp conditions early in '06, the spores had a chance to take hold, so we saw quite a bit in the vineyards—some more than others. This meant yet another thinning pass, this time for botrytis." For some winemakers, though, the botrytis was too widespread, and grapes were left unpicked. Others say they only detected the botrytis after the grapes were picked, and in some instances after they were already crushed and fermenting.
Winemaker Nick de Luca of Dierberg describes 2005 as "big—and easy to make rich, powerful or elegant Pinots." By contrast, "2006 was a challenging vintage, a vineyard manager's vintage," he says. "Botrytis was rampant, and in some vineyards nothing short of shocking. Truly a vintage for resourceful and creative winemakers and vineyard managers."
But others, including Wes Hagen of Clos Pepe in Sta. Rita Hills, predict that 2006 will surprise many and reward cellaring. "Those winemakers who opted for a more restrained approach to the vintage made some pretty remarkable wines," Hagen says. "Certainly not a rich and bold vintage, for the best producers 2006 offered subtle and delicate Pinot Noirs that while not flattering at present may turn out to be some of the more ageworthy and ethereal efforts in recent memory."
John Holdredge, who makes wine in Sonoma, adds, "To me, both 2005 and 2006 were years with great potential for Pinot. Both were marked by cooler temperatures. Still, 2005 was 'nature's year,' with grapes that came in so physiologically balanced that Mother Nature supplanted winemakers in many respects. If the grapes roll in so perfectly that no adjustments are necessary, the vintage kind of makes itself."
The top wines from 2006 and 2005 offer ripe, deep and complex flavors, typically with a mix of wild berry, blueberry, blackberry and raspberry flavors, floral and spicy scents, fine-grained tannins and a measure of delicacy and finesse. Though you may find some hints of berry jam in the 2005s, the ripeness levels in 2006 are toned down a bit, as are the alcohol levels.
Among my favorite 2006s are Kosta Browne's Santa Lucia Highlands Rosella's Vineyard (94, $68) and its California 4-Barrel (93, $68), as well as the A.P. Vin Sonoma Coast Kanzler Vineyard (93, $48) and the Sea Smoke Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills Ten 2006 (92, $80). These wines combine depth, range of flavor, supple texture, length and balance.
From 2005, Mark Aubert's Sonoma Coast UV Vineyard (94, $80) is a shade sleeker and more elegant than the thicker, more extracted 2004, while his Sonoma Coast Reuling Vineyard (93, $80) is more delicate, yet still deep and persistent. A number of other wines hit 92 points, including the Williams Selyem Rochioli Riverblock Vineyard ($75) and the Darioush Signature ($48) from Russian River Valley; the Adrian Fog Savoy Vineyard ($75), the Goldeneye ($55) and the Goldeneye Gowan Creek Vineyard ($75) from Anderson Valley; the Donum Carneros ($65); and from the Central Coast, the Dierberg Santa Maria Valley ($42) and the La Rochelle Santa Lucia Highlands Garys' Vineyard ($52).
So while 2006—and to some extent 2005—tested winemakers' skills, I think the contrast in style between riper years and cooler years is worth exploring and savoring. From what winemakers say about 2007, and from what I've tasted of it so far, the vintage will be riper and more full-bodied, putting it more in line with my favorites, such as 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Napa Valley-based senior editor James Laube is Wine Spectator's lead taster on the wines of California.
