2023 The Haven Pinot Noir

A luminous red, the 2023 Pinot Noir The Haven Vineyard Estate has a refreshing coastal feel and is bright with notes of pomegranate, red flowers, and citrus zest. Medium-bodied, it offers fine tannins and has a laser beam focus, but it’s not austere. 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 The Haven Vineyard is particularly reflective of its origin, offering aromas and flavors evocative of redwood forests and the Pacific Ocean. On the nose, pomegranate and strawberry give way to wild fennel, mossy bark, woodsmoke, nori and botanical tones. The medium-bodied palate is open and expressive with generous, detailed flavors and compelling evolution in the glass. It’s framed by silky tannins and mouthwatering acidity and has a long, layered finish. 322 cases were made.

Sits west of the town of Occidental on the south shoulder of a 1,200 ft ridge on Hugo and Josephine loams. The property, the first to be purchased and planted by Lemon in 2001, is very heterogeneous, containing uplifted undersea volcanics, sandstones, shales and loams derived from serpentine soils. This site is farmed using organic and biodynamic methods but is not certified. Free-run juice from a combination of destemmed fruit and 24% 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. 322 cases produced. Aromas of slightly meaty, slightly herbal black cherries and raspberries. Faintly saline black-cherry and raspberry flavours are wrapped in a cotton-ball coat of tannins as berries and wet-stone notes linger with a remarkable crystalline stoniness through the finish. The salinity here is somewhat astonishing, and contributes to an ethereal quality for this wine that is very compelling. (AY)