2011 Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley)

Two thousand fourteen will be longtime winemaker Bob Cabral's last vintage here as he's leaving after the 2014 harvest "to check out a lot of new stuff" that he either isn't able to discuss or hasn't quite figured out just yet.He's looking forward to getting out on his own as his career, which spans four decades, has always involved working for somebody."I have no complaints, zero," he told me in March, "and now's a good time to see what I finally might be able to do on my own."Jeff Mangahas, who came on board here in April, 2011 after 5 years as winemaker at Hartford Court, will take over Cabral's position, and based on the wines coming out of the Williams-Selyem winery since he arrived and the consistently excellent wines that he made for Don Hartford, things should keep humming along smoothly here.

"People who like to pick their pinot at low Brix got their wish in 2011, and people who don't like to pick low didn't have a choice," Bob Cabral told me."We're talking mostly an average of 22 to 23 Brix across Sonoma County," he said.Harvest here started on September 7 and was wrapped up by early October "so the rain wasn't an issue".What was an issue was the fact that around 20% of the fruit didn't set and the tiny berries ensured a crop level 25% below normal.Cabral thinks that the wines "are really outstanding because of their precision and flavor depth; they taste exactly like where they're grown, which is what pinot is all about.And the tannins are even and in sync with the fruit."