2013 Littorai, Pinot Noir, Mays Canyon, Sonoma Coast.
The 2013 vintage in California is really turning out fantastic, especially for Pinot Noir with many wines surpassing 2012 with ease and in particular Ted Lemon’s Littorai Pinots are gorgeous! I’ve been lucky enough to have tasted the 2013 Mays Canyon twice and it is a stunner, it shows the finesse and detail Lemon’s wines are known for, but it also has the depth and texture of the year marked into it’s being. This Littorai Mays Canyon and Ted Lemon’s other project Burn Cottage in Central Otago New Zealand both are thrilling Pinot Noir wines that moved me this year, Lemon is making some of the finest wines in the world right now, these are hard to find and get, but certainly they are must get wines for Pinot lovers, they are so good, you just might forget about Burgundy all together, at least for a short time! The 2013 Littorai Mays Canyon Pinot Noir starts with delicate rose petal and violets perfume along with hints of smoke, cedar and red berries leading to a satiny palate of black cherry, plum and tangy vine picked raspberry along with briar, spice, stones, vanilla and sappy herbs. With air a creamy density fills the mouth, but it is matched by oft tannins and acidity that adds verve and focus, this wine gets more and more impressive by the minute with a flow of ripe fruit, savory elements and near perfect oak shadings. The aftertaste leans on kirsch, cinnamon, anise, a touch of earth and red currant, making for a beautiful and stylish wine that has years more to go in bottle, huge potential development and rewards in 5 to 7 years even though it is drinking great already, best from 2018 to 2024.
($70 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive