2018 Pinot Noir DuMOL Estate Vineyard

This is a stellar set of 2023s from Andy Smith and Jenna Davis at DuMOL. Yields were low for Chardonnay but bountiful for Pinot Noir to the point of requiring considerable thinning of the crop. The Chardonnays are glorious, rich but not heavy, and incredibly expressive of place. That’s a pretty appealing combination in my book. A few of the Chardonnays are in bottle, but most will be bottled this winter. The Pinot Noirs might be even more impressive. They saw 18-21 days on the skins followed by very slow, gradual malolactic fermentations, with no added SO2 in aging until racking. The Bressay, MacIntyre and DuMOL Estate Pinots are all magnificent in the early going. Most of the Pinots had not been bottled at the time of my tastings. I will follow up once I have had a chance to taste the finished wines.

This is a gorgeous set of wines from DuMOL in a very challenging year. Frost in May, variable weather during bloom and severe drought resulted in vines with loose clusters and low yields. Chardonnay yields were down 30%, while for Pinot Noir, losses were more modest at 15%. "Drought pushed vines to build sugars quickly," Owner and Winemaker Andy Smith explained. "We had very cool weather in August. At that point, sugars stopped moving while acidities began to drop. That's when we started to bring fruit in." Harvest began on August 12, a full month earlier than 2023. Most of the fruit was in before the worst of the heat spike that was so problematic in other regions.

In tasting, the 2022s come across as a bit light in body. The wines don't have the dimension or dynamic intensity of years such as 2021. That is to be expected. In exchange, though, the wines will drink well with minimal cellaring. More than anything, I see the 2022s as wines of balance, of equilibrium.

The Pinots were done with fully destemmed fruit, except for the Bressay, which saw partial stem inclusion. Smith and the winemaking team gave the Pinots 17 months in barrel, with no racking, about two months longer than usual. The Chardonnays underwent their typical élevage of 11 months in barrel and 6-7 months in tank. Interestingly, I found the Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs from the Bressay and DuMOL Estate vineyards to be especially fine. Both are high-density vineyards. “In these vineyards, we are asking the plants to carry lower individual crops, so the vines are less affected by a lack of water,” Smith added. There are a lot of theories about optimal vineyard architecture in these climate change-challenged times. It’s a fascinating subject that warrants greater discussion.

My most recent visit to DuMOL focused on tasting all the 2021s that were in barrel when I stopped by last year. I am happy to report that the bottled 2021s are every bit as strong as they were from barrel. Unfortunately, my visit also coincided with the bottling of the 2022s, so I was not able to taste those wines. That can happen. Andy Smith is one of the most pragmatic winemakers I know in Sonoma. Bottling times rarely follow a formula and can vary from vintage to vintage and wine to wine, so the lineup here can also vary from tasting to tasting. I will follow up on the 2022s as soon as I have a chance to taste them.

Winemaker/Co-owner Andy Smith and Associate Winemaker Jenna Davis presented a breathtaking range of 2021s. I was blown away by the wines I tasted from DuMOL this year. Two thousand twenty-one is one of the greatest vintages I have tasted here. That is evident from the very first wines in this lineup. Despite drought conditions, the wines retain terrific acidity and tons of nuance. Interestingly, Smith reported that wines extracted easily in 2021. The Chardonnays are incredibly pure and brilliant. It's much the same in the Pinots, a stunning collection of wines that reaches its apogee with the Pinot Noir MacIntyre, one of the greatest California Pinots I have ever tasted. The theme of delineation and vibrancy continues through to the Syrahs and Cabernets. Most of the 2021s were in tank, hence scores are in parentheses. This is a very special set of wines that readers will not want to miss.

Andy Smith and his team turned out a positively stellar set of 2020 Sonoma wines in what was one of the most challenging years ever. To be sure, the 2020s are on the lighter side, the result of drought and heat that shocked the vines, plus the necessity of harvest that was accelerated in some spots to avoid fires. But the wines are clean and expressive.

This is a pretty remarkable set of new releases from DuMOL. The Pinots achieved a level of richness that was not easy in a year with a fair amount of rain early in the season, while the Syrahs and Chardonnays are terrific. Winemaker Andy Smith describes 2019 as a year with uneven flowering, especially in Pinot and Syrah, which resulted in small bunches and naturally low yields. Vineyards required just one pass to adjust crop levels, as opposed to three in 2018. On paper 2019 is a vintage with low acids for the Chardonnays vis-à-vis 2018 and lower tannins for the Pinots as well. In my view, though, the biggest driver of style at DuMOL is an emphasis on freshness and energy that defines the wines today as compared to a decade ago, when the wines were much more opulent and oaky. Another key development has been DuMOL’s transformation into an estate winery. In the early days all of the fruit here was purchased. Today, nearly all the Pinot and Syrah are estate, as is more than half of the Chardonnay.

Over the years, I have learned to allow for plenty of time for my tastings at DuMol. I was super-impressed with the wines I tasted on my last visit. Andy Smith continues to grow the range thoughtfully. The Chardonnays and Pinots remain the strong suits, mostly because they form the core of the range and have really been fine tuned over time. The 2017 Chardonnays have turned out just as well as I had hoped they would. The wines are rich, deep and full of character. Today, I favor the 2017s over the 2018s, which come across as lighter. Then again, the Chardonnays see pretty long élevage (by California standards) of 11 months in oak and 6 months in steel (for the vineyard designates) so there is plenty of time for the 2018s to perhaps gain a bit more dimension. The two vintages appear closer in quality for Pinot Noir. Smith opted to handle the 2018s very gently in the cellar, and did half the number of punchdowns than the norm. Both the 2017s and 2018s are vivid and super-expressive. I favor 2018 over 2017 for the Cabernets and Syrahs, as the longer and more benign growing season was clearly more favorable for both varieties.

My tasting at Du Mol was one the highlights of my January trip to Sonoma. Andy Smith describes 2016 as a classic California vintage with lower acidities than the 2015, which I suspect is more a reflection of the timing of picking decisions rather than a reflection of the vintages themselves. Regardless, 2016 and 2015 are two fabulous back to back vintages at Du Mol. This range is seriously impressive. The 2016 Chardonnays were all in tank when I tasted them, while the 2016 Pinots and Cabernets were still in oak.

Andy Smith has turned out a striking set of wines at DuMol. Over the last few years, Smith seems to have settled into a more relaxed, comfortable style at DuMol that is helped by not having to divide his attention between DuMol and Larkmead, as he once did. Smith is picking a bit earlier and going for more freshness and energy in his wines. The results are truly spectacular. There are many, many highlights in this range. Readers should not miss the 2014 Cabernets, both of which have really blossomed since I tasted them from barrel last year. The Cabernet program grows to five wines in 2015, so there is plenty to look forward to, including new wines from Meteor (that fruit went into the Napa Valley bottling in 2014), Ballard and Tench.

This is a strong set of new releases from DuMOL. Winemaker Andy Smith has really dialed in his approach here over the last few years, and it shows. Harvest dates have been moved up, while in general Smith is seeking a bit more freshness in his wines than was the case a few years ago. That is especially true of the Chardonnays, which now also spend eleven months in barrel followed by six months in tank, a fairly classic aging regime today in Burgundy that is less common in California. Smith has also introduced two new Cabernets, with more to follow. As readers probably know, Smith made the wines at Larkmead for years, so Cabernet is intimately familiar. The first wines are quite impressive.

I was deeply impressed with the wines I tasted at DuMol this year. Winemaker Andy Smith is no longer at Larkmead and is now solely focused on DuMol, which can only be a good thing for these wines. Many of the 2012s, the Pinots in particular, were even better from bottle than they were from barrel last year. The 2012 Pinots spent more time in barrel than normal, and for the most part benefited from the longer elevage. Unfortunately I was not able to taste the 2013 Pinots as they were bottled earlier than normal, just before my visit. DuMol and Andy Smith fans can look forward to two Cabernets starting with the 2014 vintage; the first is from the Montecillo vineyard in Sonoma, while the second is likely to be a blend from two top Napa Valley sites. DuMol occupies a pretty solid position in the middle of the stylistic spectrum, which is one of the reasons they are so delicious. In my view, these wines have never been better.

"We picked when we wanted to, mostly in the second half of September," said Andy Smith about the 2011 harvest in Sonoma County."We harvested everything except the Charles Heintz chardonnay before the first rain on October 3."Even if he doesn't consider 2011 to be at the level of 2010 here, Smith believes that the 2011 chardonnays are balanced from the start, showing "intensity and energy more than weight."The pinots may be less dense than normal, owing to the reduced number of sunshine hours during the growing season, added Smith, "but they don't lack for structure."(He indicated some concern about the 2012 pinots because of the high crop levels.)Syrah was the most challenging variety here in 2011 and a lot of fruit was declassified as a result of underripeness or problems with the grape skins."The year was not good for vinifying with whole clusters due to botrytis," noted Smith.

This is a fabulous set of wines from DuMol and winemaker Andy Smith. Stylistically, the wines capture a middle ground built on balance above all else. The wines are rich and layered but never heavy. I am sure I am not the only person who was surprised to see Smith leave his other longstanding gig over at Larkmead in Calistoga at the end of last year. I imagine that DuMol owners Kerry Murphy and Michael Verlander are probably delighted to have more of Smith's time. It's probably a pretty safe bet DuMol will be getting into the Cabernet Sauvignon business in the near future.
Andy Smith describes 2011 as a year with lower maturities than normal and also naturally lower yields, while 2012 was an abundant crop with larger berries and far greater production. In 2012 the malos were quite slow, which is reflected in a number of wines that come across as a bit less fully formed than they usually do at this stage, the Chardonnays in particular. In 2011, both the Eoin and Connor Pinots were picked after the rains and were ultimately bulked out, as the fruit wasn't high enough to merit vineyard designate bottlings. Smith also used a very small amount of whole clusters in 2011. I have a slight preference for the 2011 Chardonnays over 2012s, as the naturally low yields of the year and the cool growing season have produced a set of deeply expressive, dynamic wines long on energy. Don't get me wrong the 2012 Chardonnays are beautiful. It's just that the 2011s have a little more complexity. It's a high-class problem to choose between these vintages. On average, the 2012 Pinots are a notch above the 2011s, as they have more fruit and resonance, along with better balance, much of that coming from a much more favorable growing season. In Syrah, which ripens later than both Chardonnay and Pinot, 2012 is a decidedly better and more even vintage than the rain-plagued 2011. All of the 2012s Chardonnays and Pinots I tasted were in tank, while the unbottled Syrahs were all in barrel.

Winemaker Andy Smith describes 2009 as a ‘sweet, forward vintage,' while 2011 is more ‘dynamic and commercial.' Smith reserves his highest praise for 2010, which he calls his favorite among the three current vintages. In 2011, Smith bulked out 20% of his Pinot Noirs, including the entire production of the Eoin. All the 2011 Pinots came in before the rains. Smith used whole clusters only for the Aidan, as botrytis was an issue in all the other Pinot vineyards. The Charles Heintz Chardonnay came in after the rains. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to taste the 2011 Syrahs, as the final blends had not yet been put together at the time of this tasting. In broad terms, the DuMol Chardonnays are all fermented and aged in barrel, with no lees stirring. Some of the wines are aged in slightly larger 300 liter barrels, and at times the malolactic fermentation are partly blocked, which results in wines that are both texturally rich but also full of energy, a combination that is rare and hard to achieve. The single-vineyard Pinots spend 14-15 months in barrel on their fine lees, while the Syrahs get a few more months in oak. At their best, the Pinots and Syrahs are compelling.

"We harvested early in 2008," Andy Smith told me, "with healthy acidity and before any problems with heat spikes from an Indian summer." Smith said that he's wary of battonage with chardonnay because "if the fruit was healthy and ripe then there should be plenty of richness in there already. Better to let it work itself out; that's what all the vineyard work of the year was for." He said that he would far rather err on the side of picking pinot a little too early than a little too late: "I'd much prefer to make an herbal wine than a raisined one," he explained.

We're into blending rather than making vineyard-designated wines," explains DuMol co-owner Kerry Murphy. DuMol has extensive control over farming practices at the vineyards it buys from, and some of its contracts specify payment by the acre, giving DuMol the flexibility to have crop levels reduced to ensure better ripeness and concentration of fruit. Andy Smith, who also makes the Gemstone red blend, is winemaker here. He told me that the style has changed somewhat since '98 and '99, "when we were making wines in a fruit-bomb style." For starters, he has reduced fermentation temperatures to extend the fermentations. He keeps a relatively high percentage of solids with the young wines but does only limited lees stirring. The blends are normally made in June or July; the wines then go back into barrel, with all the lees kept for the chardonnay and a substantial amount for the pinot. Smith uses the wines' last months in barrel "to lose the fermentation character of the fruit."