2012 Pinot Noir Finn

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.

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.