2022 Pinot Noir Savoy

Consistency is one of the signatures of all great estates. That’s exactly what came to mind when I tasted this range from Eric Sussman and Davida Ebner. The 2022 vintage was far more challenging than the year prior, yet Sussman and Ebner turned out a dazzling set of wines. Sussman describes 2022 as a year with a dry winter and poor weather in bloom that resulted in small clusters with small berries. Harvest was as much as one month earlier than normal. Crops were especially light for the Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs (note the Alberigi was not bottled). In tasting, the wines show quite a bit of textural intensity, yet retain plenty of site character, the single most important in vineyard-designate wines. As always, most of the wines spent 16-17 months in barrel, on the longer side by California standards. The 2022 Pinots saw minimal stem inclusion of 0-15%, while the Syrahs were done with 15-35% stems, in a measured manner, as whole clusters are never dominant here. This is a fabulous set of new releases.