2011 Pinot Noir Platt Vineyard

"I like the clarity and fruit intensity of the '11s," owner/winemaker Carroll Kemp told me, "but they required more man hours and vineyard work than any vintage ever to make it into the bottle."He told me that his current focus is on getting as much aroma out of his wines as possible, "which means gentler pressing--in other words, like pinot noir for the syrahs--and also trying to stretch the malos out to get more complexity in the perfume."To make a quick point about the potential for syrah in 2011, Kemp showed me a barrel sample from his estate vineyard in Fort Ross:it looks extremely promising, with intense dark berry fruit and flourishes of flowers, spices and olive, and a silkiness of texture that's eerily reminiscent of a top-drawer wine from the northern Rhone.