2012 Castalia, Pinot Noir “Rochioli Vineyard” Russian River Valley.
Rochioli’s cellar master Terry Bering makes a small handcrafted Pinot under his own Castalia label with fruit coming off Rochioli Vineyard, it is a selection of West Block clone, one of the old vine heritage clones found on the estate, and this wine is super limited. 2012 is looking like one of the best vintages to date and this beauty will sell out fast, especially with Rochioli’s single vineyard wines going for twice to three times the price. This year’s wine shows pure Rochioli richness and depth with dark fruit density and lavish texture, it has high PH and a bit lower acidity, making for a drink now kind of pleasure and it is an easy to love wine. Dark cherry, cola, plum and red raspberry lead the way with tea spice, vanilla cream and sassafras notes. I starting tasting Castalia back in 1996 or 1997 and it has been one of my secret favorites ever since, I confess it was a great joy to get this wine back then, because I was still waiting to get on the main list at Rochioli, and even though I’m on the list, I still get the Castalia too, this is great Pinot hand crafted, hedonistic, rich Pinot Noir that is hard not to love, but don’t wait it goes fast. Drink now and over the following 3 to 5 years, it is a wonderful quietly pleasure!
($60 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive
avail at www.sfwtc.com ($54.95)