2020 Bodega Headlands Cuvee Elizabeth Pinot Noir
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Tasting notes
This is Occidental’s “prettiest” wine, Cate tells us. The 2020 is gorgeous – a charming and delicate Pinot with crunchy redcurrant and raspberry fruit joining rose perfume. A wine that pirouettes across the palate, it’s delicate and elegant with a mineral line that drives a long finish. Don’t take its finesse for a lack of potential however, this is persistent and has such vibrancy, with super fine tannins that you barely feel providing essential structure.
Critic scores
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Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Steve Kistler planted this vineyard with old Calera clone and made the first vintage in 2004 as 'Kistler Cuvée Elizabeth-Bodega Headlands'. Pale ruby with a purple hue. Earthy, reduced, gravelly edge with bark, ripe blueberry and red-cherry fruit. Ripe and earthy nose. Chiselled acidity. Lingering berry fruit on the finish and tense rhubarb sappiness. (SCJ)
The 2020 Pinot Noir Bodega Headlands Cuvée Elizabeth is a dark, brooding wine. Black cherry, plum, gravel, game, incense and dried herbs all run through the 2020. Intensely lifted and mineral, the 2020 offers notable energy and fine balance. There's a bit of nerviness in the tannin that needs to resolve. The Cuvée Elizabeth is usually a bit more forthcoming than it is today. I would give this at least a year or two in bottle.
The 2020 Pinot Noir Bodega Headlands Vineyard Cuvee Elizabeth pours a youthful ripe ruby hue and has very attractive floral aromas of wild raspberry, incense, wildflowers, and wet stone. Medium-bodied, with great balance of ripeness and purity, it offers cherry liqueur, violets, fine tannins, and a soft mineral texture and has seamless freshness of acidity without any harsh edges. Drink 2023-2033. The family estate of Steve Kistler in the Bodega Headlands, Occidental is exclusively devoted to producing coastally influenced Pinot Noir. Kistler was initially drawn to the area after tasting a bottling of Summa Vineyard that expressed a vivid and more cool climate style. Though Occidental was officially founded in 2011, Steve has been planting vineyards and purchasing property in the area since the 1990s and has retained his original cellar team for the past 30 years. His daughter Catherine Kistler has been the assistant winemaker since 2017, and they are members of the West Sonoma Coast Vintners Association. Looking toward the estate's future, they have acquired a new ranchland property two and a half miles from the coast and will begin planting Pinot Noir vines on Goldridge soils next year at this even cooler temperature site. The following wines were tasted at the winery in May. For each of the single-vineyard sites, they hold the wines back an additional year, so this tasting focused on the 2020 vintage (with the exception of the 2021 Pinot Noir Freestone-Occidental).
About the producer
Steve Kistler is a man who needs little introduction. He founded, and – for almost 40 years – made the wines at, Kistler. Since leaving his eponymous estate in 2017, Kistler has been focused exclusively on Occidental, his new, family winery on the outer edges of the Sonoma Coast.