2013 Big Basin Pinot Noir Woodruff Family Vineyard (Santa Cruz Mtns)

12.6% abv. 

Enjoyed this wine over the course of three evenings. Improving and gaining character each day, with the last quarter bottle being a righteous expression of minimalist-style, whole cluster pinot noir wine-making in the Santa Cruz Mtns by Bradley Brown. 

Really a stunner upon opening the bottle, the whole cluster component is evident right away with spice and wonderful piquancy on the nose and palate. 

Less intervention with increased expression of terroir. 

It was a joy visiting and getting to chat one on one with Messr. Brown a couple of years ago. An incredibly beautiful area.

With the third day, a bit of the sharp edges had mellowed and slowly gave a glimpse of a very nice future.  Tart , very pure Balaton cherry, spiciness, and a note of anise on an incredibly savory frame. Irresistible. A truly incredible sous bois on the nose.  

The Woodruff and the Alfaro are my two favorite pinot noirs from Big Basin.  I can't wait to try the 2013 Alfaro....

Interestingly enough, Jeb Dunnuck comments that the move to a leaner style of pinot noir has not always produced optimal results at Big Basin.  I would heartily disagree with this viewpoint.  Messr. Brown is following his heart and making beautiful pinot noir.

2011 Dominque Belluard Ayse Mont Blanc Brut Zero (Savoie)

PnP.... 12.5% abv ... 100% Gringet

Beautifully dry sparkling wine with quite a level of intensity. Zesty lemon and spice with precise cut of minerality. Fine mousse that dances across your palate. Intriguing nose of wildflower and yeast...

Nice QPR. Priced in the less than $50 range. The 2012 vintage is a bit more elegant and balanced. This 2011 is really enjoyable and was very popular at dinner. 

Here are notes from David Schildknecht ...

"....For most of the 19th century, the name “Ayse” (or “Ayze”) on a bottle was a sign of uniquely high-quality (particularly sparkling) wine rendered from diverse cepages including Mondeuse and Persan but especially the white grape Gringet, a late- and irregular-ripener whose lineage is shrouded in mystery – like many Alpine varieties tied to tall tales of faraway places – but which has recently been demonstrated by Swiss vine geneticist Jose Vouillamoz to be unrelated to any other well-known cepage and almost certainly of local origin. The post-phylloxera, post-World War I decline of these rocky moraine and chalk-clay (by Alpine standards gentle) slopes overlooking the Arve River halfway between Geneva and Mont Blanc is not dissimilar to that of many once-renowned French wine growing sectors, and in this instance both the vineyards and the Gringet nearly died out.

Patrick Belluard has made it his life’s work to rescue both, though surely no one including him could have imagined just what their synergy might ultimately amount to in bottle. Not to leave you in suspense, it amounts to some of the most remarkable not to mention improbable vinous excitement and promise I have witnessed anywhere in France during the past decade. I first tasted Belluard’s wines from the 2003 vintage – an oddball nearly everywhere, but here resulting in something delicious and unusual. This did not, however, prepare me for the intrigue let alone beauty and polish I experienced when I visited Belluard last November, a result he credits not only to generally greater know-how and an increasingly clear vinous vision, but especially to a biodynamic conversion completed in 2005. And who know but that Gringet might prove a vine singularly suited to our time, as the evidence suggests that here is one grape – tardy and irregular though its ripeness may be – that doesn’t accumulate sugar faster than flavor! Of 54 remaining acres in Gringet, Belluard now farms 30, most of the rest being split among very small landholders who sell in bulk for production of sparkling wine (now protected by an Ayze sub-appellation) or make wine as a hobby. His share of sparkling is 60% but he intends to level of at half.

After frustrating experiences with barrels masking the purity of flavors that he takes such pains to preserve (inter alia employing a basket press), Belluard became one of the earliest proponents of vinification in concrete “eggs” which he commenced in 2005 and for his still wines now uses almost exclusively, though amphora have recently entered the picture. Faced with a time shortage and not wishing to excessively prevail on Belluard’s generosity (we met late one evening because it was the only chance I had to pass anywhere nearby his estate) I intuitively chose as my point of comparison with 2010, 2008 – which, Belluard opined, was an even more challenging vintage – and when he offered to open one more bottle I wisely (as it turned out) chose 2006 over 2005...."