Sarah's Vineyard Dwarf Oak Pinot Noir 2018
-
Wilfred
Wong
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Rich, bing cherry, raspberry, plum, and roses – the 2018 Santa Clara Valley Pinot Noir is a bouquet of red fruit and flowers. The bright red fruit aromas and flavors jump to the nose and palate with a hint of sage. A touch of vanilla bean and spice from the barrels both fill out the “middle” and complete the long finish.
Winemaker Tim Slater suggests pairing grilled salmon with a beurre blanc sauce, a simple roast chicken and grilled vegetables, or a pancetta-wrapped pork tenderloin.
Professional Ratings
-
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 Sarah's Vineyard Dwarf is attractive, nicely built, and ready to drink. TASTING NOTES: This wine excels with lovely aromas and flavors of candied berries and licorice. Pair it with Thai basil chicken over sesame rice. (Tasted: October 9, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
Other Vintages
2019-
Wine
Enthusiast
Marilyn “Sarah” Otterman purchased the initial 10 acres of Sarah’s Vineyard in the southern Santa Clara County's Hecker Pass area in 1977. She then planted seven acres of Chardonnay in 1978. Tim Slater purchased the vineyards and winery in 2001. Tim’s practices include sectionalized irrigation to conserve water, and minimal sulfur use throughout all stages of production. Sarah’s only uses French oak 228 liter barrels, which are topped twice monthly in their humidity controlled barrel room. Bottling is done on premises using Sarah’s own small, fully automated bottling line.
The property occupies 24 acres in the cool climate “Mt. Madonne” district of the southern Santa Cruz Mountains range at a lower altitude that defines it as a part of the Santa Clara AVA. Here in historic Hecker Pass, chilling winds and fog off nearby Monterey Bay mitigate the sunny daytime temperatures and extend hang time. This affords Sarah's Vineyard a coastal microclimate of foggy mornings, sunny afternoons tempered by strong ocean breezes, and chilly nights that are ideal conditions for premium Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Rhone varietals.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Home to some of California’s most influential winemaking pioneers of the late 1800s, Paul Masson and Charles Lefranc, the Santa Clara Valley AVA hugs up against the southwestern border of today’s famous Silicon Valley and excels in the production of bold reds, as well as some whites.