2000 Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast)

Winemaker Bob Cabral made no fewer than six chardonnays in 2000, but told me that the winery will offer much less chardonnay in the future, as its 35 new acres of mostly pinot noir on the western edge of the Russian River Valley appellation begin to produce fruit in 2002. Methods for making chardonnay haven't changed much here since the days of Burt Williams. "We still pick superripe fruit wherever possible and then ferment very cold, for up to 60 days," explained Cabral. Cabral describes his 2000 pinot noirs as softer and suppler than the 1999s, with less aggressive tannins. "It's a more typical, feminine style of pinot. We backed off a bit on the new oak because the wines didn't have quite the structure of '99." There will actually be fewer cases of pinot noir in 2000 than in 1999 (8,000 cases vs. 9,000). But my tasting of the young 2000s was still a marathon event, what with six chardonnays, a dozen pinots, five zinfandels, and a couple of extraordinary sweet wines.