2023 Littorai Pinot Noir Mays Canyon

The 2023 Pinot Noir Mays Canyon is a deeper ruby color and is pretty on the nose, a floral perfume as well as notes of ripe berries, kirsch, brambly herbs, and darker stones. It has more depth compared to the Savoy Vineyard and is long in the finish, with notes of tea leaf. Drink 2025-2045. 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 Mays Canyon demands plenty of air to reveal wafts of red cherry, blackberry, aniseed, mushrooms and earth. The medium-bodied palate is more open at this stage, offering perfumed red fruit laced with floral perfume. It’s structured by silky tannins and vibrant acidity and has a long, layered finish. It unfolds dramatically as it airs and will benefit from several years in the cellar. 180 cases were made.

Sits on the western edge of the Russian River AVA, outside Guerneville, eight miles from the coast at 200–400 ft of elevation on Hugo gravelly loam underlain by weathered fine-grained sandstone and shale. Planted to Pinot in 1999, the site is highly unusual, for the Russian River surrounds it on three sides. The ranch has grown grapes since the 1800s. Farmed using organic and biodynamic methods. Free-run juice from a combination of destemmed fruit and 27% 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. 234 cases produced. Garnet with some purple highlights. Aromas of dried flowers, raspberries and a hint of blueberry. Flavours of raspberry and blueberry mix with dried herbs and earth, as fleecy tannins coat the mouth and stiffen slightly. Excellent acidity leaves floral and citrus notes in the finish, but mostly a deep, wet-pavement quality that lingers on the palate. Lovely perfume and a broad confidence mark this as an outstanding wine. (AY)