2018 Pfendler Pinot Noir Petaluma Gap Sonoma County

Like Pfendler’s 2018 Chardonnay, this vintage of their Pinot Noir was also put into bottle by new winemaker Erica Stancliff. The fruit was hand sorted, de-stemmed, and cold soaked for five days before fermentation with ambient cultures. It spent about two weeks on skins before pressing off and malolactic occurred in barrel, where the wine spent 14 months in French oak, half new.

The robe is a shiny ruby color with leafy aromas that mingle tomato and raspberry. The texture is crystalline; counter-intuitively it is less weighty than Pfendler’s Chardonnay. It’s sharper, more linear. The flavors suggest pomegranate, tea, rose hips, red plums, and hibiscus. This is a wine that will refresh with rich roasts but be equally at home with lighter fare. Try poultry, pork, salmon and other rich fish, or medium-aged cheeses.