2014 Wayfarer Pinot Noir
The Estate

Tasting Notes

This rich and harmonious cuvee of our 12 Pinot Noir clones showcases Wayfarer’s vibrant spectrum of single-vineyard, estate-grown fruit and a distinctive minerality. A deep iridescent ruby, the wine interweaves aromas of sun-drench blackberry, wild strawberry and dark cherry with fresh notes of forest floor and sea salt, followed with savory prosciutto and baking spice. A supple entry leads to a generous mid-palate flush with juicy summer berries and fine sweet tannins. Rich and elegant yet focused, the wine takes it time as it finishes with sweet notes of lemon peel and lightly roasted coffee. Beguiling upon release, this wine will continue to evolve over the next 10 years.

Winemaking Notes

In the pre-dawn hours, the fruit was hand-picked and hand-sorted with just 1% reserved for whole-cluster fermentation. We de-stemmed and hand-sorted again before transferring the berries to tank where five to seven days of cold maceration preceded more than two weeks of 100% native yeast fermentation. The fruit was then gently pressed, its free-run juice transferred to 56% new French oak at medium toast levels from cooperages including François Frères, Rousseau, Remond and Latour for 15 months of aging.

Vintage Notes

The 2014 season started as one of the earliest on record, well before the threats of late winter frosts had passed. Fortunately, the tender buds and shoots escaped without damage and we relaxed into an exceptionally nice spring and cool summer.  The gentle pace of the growing season afforded us time to be especially meticulous with canopy management. We farm each of our 30 blocks individually to tailor the shoot positioning and leafing, vine by vine, and specific to each clone.  Such fine-tuned farming is critical to success on the extreme Sonoma Coast, particularly for our vineyard with its great diversity of clones planted at varying elevations and exposures – east facing, west facing, north side, and south side. By the end of the growing season we have typically visited each vine a dozen times. Our 2014 wines exhibit a pronounced minerality, due in part to our Goldridge soil and sandstone mother rock, as well as cold spells throughout the year. These wines are very open and generous right out of the bottle; possessing soft tannins and great acidity, with a slightly higher pH than previous vintages.

 

Blocks Map

1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26a, 26b, 30

Clones

37, Bacigalupi Old Wente, Dijon 115, Dijon 667, Dijon 777, Dijon 828, Hirsch, Hyde Old Wente, Pommard 4, Pommard 5, Swan, Wayfarer

Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Advocate, October 31, 2017

Medium ruby-purple colored, the 2014 Pinot Noir Wayfarer Vineyard has a gregarious nose of ripe Bing cherries, cranberry sauce and rhubarb pie with hints of mossy bark, lavender and cumin seed. Medium-bodied, the palate has wonderful restraint and a quiet intensity, with chewy tannins and seamless freshness framing the savory flavors, finishing on an appealing dried herb note.

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Wayfarer Vineyard

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