2009 Comptche Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir
(Comptche, Mendocino County)

This remote, three-acre vineyard is located in a small natural clearing above the town of Comptche, just inland from the northern Mendocino County coast. Owned and managed by the Weir family, Comptche Ridge is dry-farmed on a complex mix of fine sandy-clayey Franciscan soils, and is ringed completely by high redwoods and Douglas-fir. The vineyard, planted exclusively to Swan clone, yielded one ton per acre.

The wine hits you right away with a nose of amazingly pungent beetroot and baking spice, as well as piercing scents of cherry that emerge with air. With further aeration, tarry, loamy aromatics appear, a hallmark of this vineyard. The entry is intense, leading to a full, broad midpalate, weightier than the Demuth but equally focused by firm tannins and acids. The earthy, mineral-veined finish pushes on and on.