2015 Dutton-Goldfield Devil’s Gulch Vineyard Marin County Pinot Noir

13.5% alc., pH 3.49, TA 0.66, 262 cases, $72. A steep, terraced (up to 60% grade) vineyard planted to Martini and Dijon clones. Small yields (less than 3/4 ton per acre in 2015), tiny berries and wild fruit intensity. Owned and farmed by Mark Pasternak. 100% destemmed, put into open-top fermenters, 5-day cold soak, aged 16 months in French oak barrels, 50% new. · Moderate garnet color in the glass. This wine is the most sumptuously oaked in the lineup tasted here. The nose offers aromas of black cherry, cardamom spice, char and burnt tobacco. Plenty of black cherry goodness leads the attack in this mid weight styled wine with immersed tannins and uplifting acidity. Silky in the mouth, with expansive fruit flavors accented with oak-driven smoke and caramel. The barrel treatment was less imposing when the wine was tasted the following day from a previously opened and re-corked bottle. Score: 91. Reviewed April 14, 2018

Winery: Dutton-Goldfield
From article: Recent Sips of California Pinot Noir & Chardonnay