2023 One Acre Vineyard Pinot Noir

The primary red-colored 2023 Pinot Noir One Acre is expressive with amaro-like herbs, cedar, clove, and bright orange citrus. It’s focused and floats on the palate, with an even feel, and it’s savory and elegant, with a mineral texture and a long finish. The year 2025 marks the 30th anniversary for Littorai. Heidi and Ted Lemon operate Littorai from their Gold Ridge Estate in Sebastapol, where they produce Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from exceptional cool-climate vineyard sites on the Sonoma Coast and in Anderson Valley. Ted is, hands down, one of Sonoma's most important farmers and winemakers today. Though they farm biodynamically, they prefer to describe their practices in the vineyards as “generative farming,” a term intended to include the human relationship to the stewardship and shaping of the land as part of modern nature and integrated farming. In the winery, all the wines undergo spontaneous fermentations, with the reds going through two to three weeks of fermentation, and although Ted is not dogmatic in his approach, each of the wines is raised similarly. All of the wines for this report were tasted at the estate.

The 2023 Pinot Noir One Acre is pure and intoxicating on the nose, with wild cherry, raspberry and rose petal accented by wafts of Angostura bitters and woodsy tones that call you back to the glass again and again. The medium-bodied palate offers complex, detailed flavors framed by silky tannins and vibrant acidity, and it has a very long, nuanced finish. 440 cases were made.

Sits on a hilltop at 1,600 ft of elevation in the north-east range of mountains above Boonville on Bearwallow loam over marine-origin sandstone. The site is exposed to the north-west, a source of the cool breezes from the Pacific. Replanted in 2005, this site is farmed using organic and biodynamic methods but is not certified. Free-run juice from a combination of destemmed fruit and 31% whole clusters ferments with ambient yeasts in a combination of steel and wood, utilising both punchdowns and pumpovers, with the wines pressed at dryness. Aged for 14–17 months in 20–25% new French oak on the lees with no racking. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. 440 cases produced. Smells of pomegranate, dried herbs and cranberry fruit. Fleecy tannins wrap around a core of crushed stone with flavours of raspberries, cranberries, cherry and a touch of wet earth. The tannins flex and stiffen on the palate, giving a good squeeze and letting wet pavement and crushed herbs linger in the finish with the ghost of berry skin. Great acidity. Delicious. (AY)