2011 Pinot Noir Hyde Vineyard

Paul Hobbs is always in motion. In late 2012 Hobbs acquired a new property in Coombsville, Napa Valley's most recent AVA. Just recently, Hobbs announced an ambitious new venture to make Riesling in New York State's Finger Lakes region with Johannes Selbach. That is of course in addition to the many wines Hobbs already makes in Sonoma for his own labels and with his many consulting clients in California and Argentina. Fortunately for Hobbs, he can count on the talents of winemaker Megan Bacitich, who takes care of the day to day at Hobbs's Sebastopol winery. I tasted a number of terrific wines on a recent visit. Overall, the 2012 Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs are a little bit softer and rounder than the 2011s. Sugars were slightly higher, while fermentations proceeded at a slower, more leisurely pace. Readers will also want to make note of the Crossbarn wines (reviewed separately), which offer terrific value and quality.

It is always fascinating to sit down with Paul Hobbs and his winemaker Megan Baccitich, as these Chardonnays and Pinots run the gamut of styles, clones and sites in Sonoma. According to Hobbs, the 2010 harvest was two weeks later than normal, while 2011 was three weeks later than normal! One of the other main differences is that temperatures increased towards the end of 2010, but stayed very much on the cool side in 2011. My impression is that when all is said and done, vintage 2011 will turn out to be superior than 2010 for this range. As always, the Hobbs house style does a very nice job of capturing both textural richness and plenty of site specificity.

In the view of Director of Winemaking Megan Baccitich, 2010 "is a remarkable cabernet year because of the blend of power and elegance" that will make these wines outstanding cellar candidates, "but the tannins are fine and integrated, which makes them seem almost precocious." They're a pretty stark contrast to the "richness and power of the '09s, which really need time and have started to close up in some cases." That's also the case with the 2010 and 2011 chardonnay and pinots here, which show plenty of the richness that one expects at this address but with a lighter touch and more pronounced minerality than I usually find in the Hobbs wines.