2010 J. Rochioli, Pinot Noir, Little Hill, Russian River Valley.
One of California’s most famous and historic Pinot Noir producers, Rochioli continues to make their rich and age worthy wines that when young show opulence, luxurious oak treatment and loads of pure Russian River flavors, but once they get some age they shed the more obvious sweet/smoky wood and gain a fine sense of delicacy and secondary complexity, as this 2010 Little Hill Pinot is doing right now. The Little Hill section sits below the Sweatwater and Big Hill plots on the southern side of the Rochioli estate just west of Westside Road and was mostly planted on this higher bench in the mid nineties to a collection of clones, mainly their own (Rochioli) West Block selection, along with some Pommard and Romanee-Conti, which all add to the depth and structure. With southeastern exposures and the ancient and not so ancient river bed soils make the Rochioli estate with its cooling influences from the marine gap that cuts up the river’s track a top Pinot Noir and Chardonnay area, along with neighbors Williams Selyem, this was ground zero for great Pinot Noir in the 1980s and 1990s when the grape was finally getting the attention in deserved in the state. The Little Hill, being part of the J. Rochioli single parcel series, gets aged in French oak, with probably 40 to 50% new medium plus toast barrique for between 15 to 18 months, plus some bottle resting before release, then of course I gave it another seven years in my own storage, which allowed it to develop to near perfection. I have learned to age my Rochioli wines, sometimes the hard way and I especially love them around ten years after release, oh and I definitely mean the Chardonnay as well!
The Rochioli family, now led by Joe Jr. and Tom Rochioli along with long time cellar master Terry Berring make seriously delicious and impactful wines, and I’ve long been a fan and while I have had access to many great wines over the years, Rochioli has a special spot in my heart, considering it took more than seven years for me to get on their mailing list, it seems unlikely knowing my general lack of patience! There is a surprisingly diverse cross section of soils across the Rochioli’s property and they pick and ferment each block separately. Tom notes, while this is a common practice in Burgundy, it was his dad who started it in the Russian River, with Rochioli being a pioneer, they were one of the first in the area to introduce, what they call a micro-batch process. Tom Rochioli believes that being able to taste unique differences between the diverse soil and clonal diversity that typifies the Russian River, plus a more hands off approach in the cellar, is what makes Rochioli the iconic producer it is. The 2010 is still a flamboyant and expressive wine with a nice freshness and vintage marker very much alive in the flavor profile, it delivers tasty layers of black cherry, tangy red currant, plum, cranberry and pretty strawberry fruits, a touch of loamy/stony earthiness, cedar and rose petal floral notes, adding a hint of black tea, cola bean and sassafras. With time in the glass the silken medium bodied palate pleases even more and the wine takes on a class and grace you’d expect from such a wine and the graceful length impresses, every sip is magic for this wine, absolutely in its prime spot, this was a particularly great bottle, I wish I had more!
($100-150 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive