2020 Occidental-Kistler Vineyards Bodega Headlands Vineyard 'Cuvee Elizabeth' Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast

"The 2020 Pinot Noir Bodega Headlands Cuvée Elizabeth is spicy and expressive, with singular aromas of cranberry sauce, rhubarb, fennel, saline, tea leaves and amaro-like undertones. The light-bodied palate offers an excellent balance of fragrant, concentrated fruit, mouthwatering acidity and pleasurably chalky tannins, and it finishes with a flourish of spicy accents. Although it has what it needs for cellaring, I would be inclined to drink it on the younger side because of the challenges of the vintage. Why wait? Drink Date: 2023 - 2030" - Erin Brooks In 2020, Occidental bottled all five of their single-vineyard wines. In this marginal climate, harvest is significantly earlier than in warmer areas of Sonoma County. "Our first day of harvest was scheduled for the first day of the fires on August 18," proprietor Steve Kistler remembered. "The summer was so warm and dry anyway, and the berries so small, we were already getting ready to pick. Our yields are under two tons per acre, and we pick so much earlier than most. For the next couple of weeks, we picked everything from both our properties. Everyone was at the mercy of the wind patterns, whether or not the smoke stagnated, how high the smoke was, etc. And if the fruit wasn't ripe enough or if you had to wait to pick, it wouldn't have worked. Our saving grace was that we had reached the edge of ripeness, and the wind patterns were in our favor. We didn't change a single thing in the winery"it was either going to work or not. They were going to be Occidental wines or nothing at all." Review Date: June 2023