2021 SENS3S Pinot Noir Day One

The 2021 Pinot Noir Day One comes from the Hillcrest Vineyard near the town of Occidental. It's one of Senses's three estate vineyards and is the site of some of the earliest plantings on the western Sonoma Coast in 1974 (the vineyard was replanted in 2005). It has alluring aromas of pomegranate and blueberry with accents of tea leaves, orange peel, wildflowers and youthful allspice tones from its 10-month maturation in about one-third new French oak. The medium-bodied palate has a luxuriously silky texture, energetic acidity, generous yet understated, spicy fruit and a long, ethereal finish. It's delicious now but will mature gracefully in bottle over the next decade. 345 cases were made.

The 2021 Pinot Noir Day One, from the Hillcrest Estate, offers notable inner sweetness and floral intensity. Super-ripe blue fruits, hard candy, sweet spice and new leather infuse the 2021 with a real sense of exotic opulence. Soft, silky and effusive, the 2021 will drink well right out of the gate.

Initially on opening, the 2021 Pinot Noir Day One is brooding, layered, and pure, with notes of gravelly earth, pepper spice, and black cherry, while later it opens to its more high-toned and lifted perfume. The palate is more compact and tightly wound, with fine tannins, driving fresh acidity, and notes of orange zest, incense, crunchy red berries, and rose perfume lingering on the finish. This will benefit from another couple years in bottle and drink well 2025-2037. Founded by three childhood friends, Christopher Strieter, Max Thieriot, and Myles Lawrence-Briggs, Senses Wines has their estate holdings in the West Sonoma Coast and Russian River Valley appellations. With their esteemed winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown, they are producing some exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon. They have slowly and steadily expanded their production from just 600 cases in 2012 to approximately 5000 cases today. 2021 marks the first release for their production of the Kanzler Vineyard as well as the first leaf of their estate holding of Bodega Theriot, a wine that proves you do not always need old vines to produce stunning wines – it was by far my favorite wine of the vintage from this team. Though it was technically the second leaf for the Bodega Theriot Vineyard, this site, unfortunately, was affected by the smoke of 2020, so they did not produce the wine the previous year. I highly encourage any followers of Thomas Rivers Brown to seek these wines out.