2018 Occidental Pinot Noir Occidental Station Vineyard
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Tasting notes
Slightly deeper hued, the 2018 Pinot Noir Occidental Station Vineyard has a rich, spicy nose of cassis and ripe black cherries supported by beautiful bouquet garni and floral nuances. It has background oak, medium to full body, ripe yet building tannins, and just a beautiful purity as well as freshness that keeps you coming back to the glass. It has enough tannins and acidity to benefit from short-term bottle age, but it has a rounded, elegant texture as well and is far from unapproachable today. It should have 15 years of longevity.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Medium ruby in color, the 2018 Pinot Noir Occidental Station Vineyard has intense, liquid-like raspberry and boysenberry aromas, layered with notes of dusty earth, Earl Grey tea leaves, salted licorice and graphite, continuing to blossom with time in the glass. The medium-bodied palate merges intense, detailed fruit character with seamless freshness and a finely pixelated texture. It finishes with tremendous detail and perfumed flavors that seem to hang on forever in the mouth. Wow!
The 2018 Pinot Noir Occidental Station is a dense, packed Pinot. Its huge core of fruit gives the Occidental Station tons of inner strength. Readers will have to be patient. Time in the glass brings out a whole range of inky red fruit, blood orange, exotic spice aromas and flavors, with swaths of tannin that wrap it all together. As always, the Occidental Station is quite a different beast from the other wines in the range, as it emerges from a site about fifteen miles from the winery that is quite a bit warmer and therefore lends a decidedly more exotic, ripe personality to the flavors. Even so, there is plenty of supporting structure and minerality to balance things out. (AG)
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.