With good reason, Northern California wines are best known for their Bordeaux-varietal based reds. As we all know and remember from lecture, these grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet France, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot. Since California, and specifically Napa and Sonoma, produce such high caliber wines of these varieties, it is known globally as one of the best producers of Bordeaux-varietals, often winning awards over similar wines produced in Bordeaux itself.
While that's all well and good for California Cabs and whatnot, I'd like to give some credit to a less celebrated California varietal that I believe is also producing amazing wines, just without receiving the same praise. I've been fortunate enough to taste a few different Pinot Noirs produced in California in the last year, and am always surprised at how great of a quality I'm getting for the price I'm paying (and am thus surprised by the quality I'm getting for the lack of label notoriety).
Two specific wines that come to mind here are Rhys Vineyards (https://rhysvineyards.com/), which grows its grapes in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and Williams-Selyem (https://www.williamsselyem.com/), based in Healdsburg. I had the chance to try a glass of Pinot from each of these labels (can't remember the vintage, sorry!) at family dinners over the holidays and was blown away by the flavor profiles of each. This led me to do a bit of research on the two labels, since I hadn't really heard of either of them.
Both Rhys and Williams Selyem appear to be what are known as 'Cult Pinot Noirs,' which are Pinots that have extremely small and selective distribution lists and sell the vast majority of their wines through said distribution lists. Not only does this create a scarcity of supply (and thus drive up price for those who can purchase either on lists or via secondary markets such as auctions), but it also (intentionally or not) perhaps quiets general consumer knowledge of a given wine. While connoisseurs will know about the great cult Pinots regardless, I wonder whether being a cult Pinot can hurt your brands reach to the more average, everyday consumer. And from a more macro perspective, could having some of the top Pinots of California be under this cult strategy ultimately be a major contributing factor to the Bordeaux varietals being far and away the most well known grapes that produces California reds? Hard to say, but given how great these cult Pinots I've tasted are plus the fact that so few people have heard of them, I suspect there might be something that's worth unraveling further!
http://www.princeofpinot.com/article/2048/
No comments:
Post a Comment