2014 Pinot Noir Thieriot Vineyard Estate

This is a remarkable set of wines from Littorai and Ted Lemon. The 2015 Pinots are unusually rich and yet they also retain a good deal of brightness. In some cases, the personality of the vintage overpowers site, but in others the character of place comes through nicely. As good as the Pinots are in 2015, the Chardonnays might be even better. According to Lemon, the vines went into both the 2014 and 2015 growing seasons with drought conditions. This was especially evident in 2015, when the cumulative effects of several back-back drought years finally caught up with the vines. Moisture retentive Goldridge soils did better, while mountain sites were more challenged. That comes through in the wines as well. Poor weather during set decimated production. For many wines, yields are Burgundy-like in size. The bottled 2014s are every bit as compelling as they were last year. A number of those wines have shut down post bottling, which is to be expected. In other news. Lemon is no longer buying fruit from Platt. Littorai fans will note the addition of a new wine from Wendling, in Anderson Valley. Lemon has been buying fruit from Wendling for a few years, but 2015 is the first vintage in which it is a vineyard designate.

Ted and Heidi Lemon are among the handful of producers who knocked it out of the park with both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in 2014. These are some of the most brilliant wines I have tasted at Littorai. I remember stopping by the winery in September of 2014. I had hoped to catch some of the crush, but because of the early harvest my timing was not so great. Instead, I tasted a few wines, or more accurately musts, straight out of the vats. The first impression was quite positive, but wines are hard to judge at that early stage. Now, a good sixteen months later, the 2014s capture all of that early potential. Ted Lemon reported that yields were not markedly different in 2014 and 2013, but that berries were smaller in 2014, so consequently skin to juice ratios were higher, which is a good harbinger for overall quality. That, in a nutshell is the essence of the two vintages I tasted on my most recent visit; the 2014s are intense, while the 2013 lack the depth and complexity of the best vintages. The Chardonnays are strong in both 2014 and 2013, although I give a slight edge to the 2014s. Readers will find a much wider gap in the Pinot Noirs, where 2014 is several notches above 2013. Most importantly, the 2013s appear to be more than just one year older than the 2014s in their color and overall intensity. Today, my impression is that the 2013 Pinots will mature at a slightly faster pace than is the norm at Littorai. In addition to these current and future releases, I also tasted the 2008 Chardonnays and have included notes on those wines here.