2018 Under the Wire, Pinot Noir, Brut Sparkling Wine, Alder Springs Vineyard, Mendocino County.
The wonderfully yeasty and expressive Under the Wire Sparkling wine, Methode Champenoise, Alder Springs edition is a fine choice for the Holidays and or celebrating with friends with layers of citrus, red apple and hazelnut/brioche, along with hints of mineral, clove spice and golden fig notes. While I loved the Sangiacomo Vineyard version, which I reviewed earlier, this Alder Springs 2018 vintage bubbly is really in a great spot and drinking fantastically well, rivaling the best in California’s artisan sparkling wines. It’s the mission of Under the Wire’s Chris Cottrell, a partner in Bedrock Wine Co, who tasted with this last Summer, to make California sparkling wines based on individual vineyards, like this fabulous grower producer inspired cool climate Alder Springs Sparkling Pinot Noir bottling, that also highlight the influence of an individual year, as this cool vintage shows. The first vintage of Under The Wire sparkling wine was in 2011 and there’s been a wide range vineyards and varietals seen here from Riesling to Zinfandel, but this traditional method 2018 Alder Springs, which saw a few hours of skin contact, but not overtly a Rosé, is very Champagne “Grower Fizz” like in character and quality with low dosage dryness and with a luxurious, almost creamy, but vibrant mousse. The balance here, in this shiny gold/coppery wine is lovely and there’s crowd pleasing pleasure to the body and persistent beading of bubbles, it really makes for a special Holiday sparkler that does everything wonderfully well in the glass.
The Bedrock Wine Co, as noted here in my prior reviews, was started in 2007 by winemaker and Master of Wine Morgan Twain-Peterson, son of the legendary Zinfandel maker Joel Peterson of Ravenswood fame, and his partner Chris Cottrell, who also has his Under the Wire label, featuring unique sparkling wines, such as this one. The winemaking here at Bedrock remains faithful to their beliefs, made with simple low intervention traditional methods that showcase the vineyards first and foremost with Morgan Twain-Peterson MW saying “overly sculpted by activist winemakers tend to be less satisfying and soulful gustatory experiences..” Of which I totally agree and is a reason why that his and Chris’ winery has been elevated to the top echelon of California wine. For this bottling, Cottrell says he’s trying to showcase California terroir with this all structured Pinot Noir, almost Blanc de Noir, and that he wanted to work with some fruit from an archetypal vineyard, like he did with the Sangiacomo Vineyard (Chardonnay) I reviewed earlier, with Alder Springs giving firm structure and zesty acidity with its unique terroir just a dozen miles from the Ocean. There’s a committed group of traditional method Champagne style producers making some incredible small lot and hand crafted yeasty single vineyard sparklers, including Michael Cruse, Samantha Sheehan of Poe Wines and Caraccioli, to name a few, and it is great time to discover them and these Under the Wire wines.
($60 ESt.) 94 Points, grapelive