2020 Climat Frais, Pinot Noir, San Luis Obispo Coast AVA, Cambria.
This exciting small production Pinot Noir from a new label, Climat Frais, has a subtle richness of textural pleasure and shows off cool climate fruit with layers of dark cherry, wild plum, strawberry and cranberry, along with hints of savory spice, flinty mineral tones, sweet florals, cola bean, as well jas heirloom tomato and a touch of guava, plus well judged wood on the silky medium bodied palate. Nicole Bertotti Pope, of Haliotide Wines, who is a graduate of California Polytechnic State University of San Luis Obispo, is the winemaker on this project, along with some advice from famous sommelier and consultant Raj Parr, of Domaine de la Côte and Sandhi Wines, have added a certain pedigree to this seductive almost Burgundian style effort. Pope having worked with Cambria’s Stolo Vineyards since around 2011 had lots of inside knowledge of the vineyard, and is married to Stolo’s vineyard consultant, Lucas Pope, who looks over the unique plot where this wine was born. Stolo came into being in the early 2000s in an undiscovered wine country set on well draining deep loam and alluvial soils, and (which) helped convince Raj that this area would be a good spot to do his own estate, which he founded, just down the road in 2019 and planted unique clones of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, as well as some fantastic rarities, such as Gringet, Mencia and Chardonnay Rosé, a pink hued mutation found in Jura, but made popular by Sylvain Pataille, in Marsannay.
The 2020 Pinot Noir comes from the Stolo estate, near Raj Parr’s Phelan Farm in Cambria and vines situated just 3 miles from the cool Pacific Ocean in what is called the Creekside Estate Vineyard, a dry farmed 3.3 Acres parcel planted in 2008 to Rochioli clone. This wine was hand crafted for Eric Schafer of Climat Frais by the mentioned Nicole Pope and consulting winemaker Raj Parr who fermented it using fully de-stemmed grapes that were crushed and macerated with gentle punch downs and pump overs in large neutral wooden fermenters for 8 days before press-off. After which the wine was aged for close to 11 months in 70% used and 30% new French barrique barrels, with 205 cases in total produced. Coming at just 12.5% natural alcohol, this wine shows a remarkable freshness even in what was a riper year, thanks to the sustainable farming practices and the proximity to the cold ocean waters. As for Nicole Pope, she’s a rising star, having cut her teeth at Domaine Carneros, helping with their sparkling wines and their Pinot Noirs, before heading back down south with Talley Vineyards just down the coast from San Luis Obispo in Arroyo Grande. Nicole looks for the spicier side of Pint Noir and you can see that here, but this sightly reductive 2020 also is well balanced and has an opulent character that makes this dark ruby wine very seductive in the glass, it won’t be an easy find, so don’t give up the chase!
($50 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive