2014 Ojai, Pinot Noir, Kessler-Haak Vineyard, Sta. Rita Hills.
Adam Tolmach’s The Ojai Vineyard Pinot Noir Kessler-Haak 2014 was one of the sleepers at the final IPOB Tasting in San Francisco, and his whole lineup included some very impressive offerings in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Tolmach’s wines deserve renewed enthusiasm and attention! Tolmach was one of the first to publicly question his own wines and the trend for bigger and bigger styles to appease critics, he worried the wines were losing their soul and ability to age gracefully and severely changed his own path and methods to bring back freshness, elegance and brought his artisan wines back to the vision he originally had. Many now have followed him in this course, and in fact even the critics have followed him, after an initial push back, I’ve always been a fan of his wines, his White Hawk Syrah is a personal favorite, and admire the man greatly for his talents and humble confidence and his latest set of wines, especially his Kessler-Haak Pinot, are lovely and vibrant wines of class, focus and detail. Adam told me at IPOB that this was a new vineyard for him and that he loved the fruit and was excited about what it had become in bottle, as was I, this beautiful and opulent Pinot has layered fruit, poised richness and vigorous energy and life, showing bing cherry, raspberry, black plum and a touch of cranberry and apple skin as well as silken tannins, tea spices, cinnamon, a hint of smoke, fennel and cedar. This medium weight Pinot surprises with outstanding length and pureness and while lithe and seductively shy at first, this wine thrills the senses. At about 13% is feels clear, feline and well defined, I highly recommend this and all the Ojai 2014’s, this stuff is exciting and filled with class, drink over the next 5 to 10 years. I’ve loved what I’ve tasted from Kessler-Haak, Chad Melville’s Samsara stands out as an example, and this new Ojai is excellent, this is a vineyard to watch, awesome stuff!
($36-40 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive