2011 Aston Estate Pinot Noir

The 2011 Pinot Noir Aston Estate is gorgeous. Sweet red berries, hard candy, crushed flowers, spices and tobacco are some of the many notes that are woven into this attractive, floral Pinot. The 2011 offers an attractive combination of minerality and that distinctive expression of fruit that is so typical of the Sonoma coast. This is a gorgeous effort. In 2011, yields came in at just one ton per acre and the harvest finished on October 2, exceedingly late for Pinot. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2017. This is a fabulous set of wines from Fred Schrader, his wife Carol and their long-time winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown. The 2010 Cabernets are big, huge wines that capture the essence of this great Napa Valley vintage. As always, the wines are made with no SO2 at the crusher, natural yeasts and minimal rackings. The four single-clone bottlings from the To-Kalon vineyard are essentially essays that provide notable insight into the clonal differences within the various parcels in this famous site. I also tasted all of the 2011s, but those wines are still embryonic stages rather than final blends, so it is hard to provide meaningful commentary at this stage. Thus far, I have tasted the 2011s twice, and both times I have been struck by the new Las Piedras bottling, which personally I am very much looking forward to following. Sadly, there will be no GIII in 2011, as conditions were just too difficult. Tel. (707) 942-1212