2019 Pinot Noir Flax 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.

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.

My tastings at DuMOL are usually pretty epic, as I sample two vintages of pretty much the entire range. The pandemic made a visit this year impossible, so this report focuses on the bottled 2018s. The wines are brilliant across the board, just as they were from barrel. Winemaker Andy Smith describes 2018 as a year with moderate temperatures, especially at harvest time, which allowed for picking tiny sections of vineyards in small, separate passes. From top to bottom, this is an impressive lineup.

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.

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.

Andy Smith and his team turned out a brilliant set of wines in 2017. The harvest was especially condensed, with most days seeing heavy picks of both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay pretty much concurrently. Smith told me the DuMOL parcels were affected by a high incidence of shot berries, which naturally lowered yields. Small berries, often with no seeds, further resulted in a collection of dense wines. Smith told me low alcohol conversions resulted in wines with a bit lower alcohol than is typical. That is fascinating, as the wines are quite rich in feel. The bottled 2016s are just as compelling from bottle as they were last year from barrel.