The Renaturating Three (Backstage With Claypool Cellars 2017)

2013 Claypool Cellars ‘CC Pachyderm’ Thorn Ridge Pinot Noir (Sonoma County, $68)
NV Claypool Cellars Pachyderm Cuvee Select Brut Cormoyeaux (Champagne, $70)

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I did not expect this; I’m pretty sure that no one beyond the Claypool inner circle anticipated a Marne Valley, Farmer Fizz release. According to Chaney, the Claypools went all-in on this, traveling to France to get involved on importing about 200 instances of the Champers, the product of fourth-generation growers Jacky Bochet and Valerie Lemoine. Also unexpected is the slight predominance of Pinot Meunier (55 percent) in the mix with Chardonnay (15 percent) and Pinot Noir (30%); the result is a Champers with slightly darker berry fruit and pear on the nose, with ample floral notes along with a ton of vivacity.

Cheers!

Only 200 cases of the elegant, stylish, and light-ish-on-the-abv (under 15 percent) Pinot were made. Steep, silty, and dry-farmed, Thorn Ridge has attracted the likes of Sonoma’s heavier-Pinot-hitters, such as Kosta Browne. The important word here is “bright” — that goes for the lifted red cherry and berry and floral aromas, the darker reddish fruit flavors on the palate, and the energetic acidity that bolsters the whole package. Despite its lithe profile, there is good structure here, and I’d recommend waiting for a few years (or at least through the listening of an total Primus album) before yanking the cork out of it.

Here we are… again… This is technically the second time that we’ve discussed this wine in feature-form on 1WD, the first time being back in 2014. Back then, I wrote that this wine was “about as complex as a good prog-rock anthem: aromas of herbs, tea, pepper, spices, and dark berry fruits, with a good deal of enticing juiciness on the palate, all uplifted by excellent acid and an overall sense of poise.” Not a lot has changed since then, with the exception of the wine becoming a bit more concentrated and complex, especially on the palate, which has developed. There is something special about the fruit in the little, slightly-inland soil of Rice-Spivak, and by special I mean that it makes a complex, spicy meatball of a Pinot.

2012 Claypool Cellars ‘CC Pachyderm’ Rice-Spivak Vineyard Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast, $67)

Published at Wed, 25 Oct 2017 12:19:24 +0000