2010 Pinot Noir Zio Tony Ranch

Ask the locals in Sonoma who the most meticulous farmers are in the region, and one answer comes back with astonishing frequency: Martinelli. Originally from Lucca, Italy, Giuseppe Martinelli and his family were attracted to hillside sites that reminded them of their native Tuscany. Ironically, many of the locals thought those places were too steep and hard to work, but time has proven Martinelli had a keen understanding of sites. Today, these are recognized as some of the finest vineyards in California. The Martinelli family still sells most of their grape to other wineries, but they also vinify and bottle a small amount of their production. As always, these are big, rich wines built on opulence. The Martinelli approach seems to work best with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. I find the Syrahs less interesting, as Martinelli's philosophical approach to harvest very late seems to blur some of the differences among vineyards, which is a shame. That is especially evident in a vintage like 2009 that yielded plenty of richness on its own. The 2010 Zinfandels are also inconsistent, but here it is the huge heat spikes late in the season that compromised the crop and the overall quality of the vintage. Martinelli lost 50% of their Zinfandel crop that year. The resulting wines, while excellent when taken on their own, aren't quite at the level long-time Martinelli fans expect. The Martinelli wines remain unique within the broad landscape that is Sonoma. At their best, these wines are stunning.

The nail-biting 2010 growing season meant a lot of time "just watching the vines not go anywhere," said Lee Martinelli, Jr. when I tasted this year's line-up with the family. "It was especially tough with the cold sites out on the coast but also in the Russian River Valley, where we actually have some of our coolest sites." But those colder spots were also less affected by the late-season heat spikes of 2009 as well as 2010, as any grower in the region will attest.