by Hoke » Wed Aug 23, 2017 12:38 pm
The Calling Patriarch Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, 2014
For 2014, The Patriarch was from the Putnam Vineyard, located close to the Pacific Ocean in the Sonoma Coast AVA---or as the grandfatherly Mr. Putnam calls it with a grin, “The Extreme Sonoma Coast.”
And extreme is what it is. Plenty of luminosity, with the sun’s heat usually blown away by the gusty ocean winds. It’s cold there. Pacific Ocean Cold. A day there is what Californians call “Fleece-Tee Shirt-Fleece.” And it happens to produce exceptional fruit.
The Calling Patriarch 2014 is fruity and robust; there’s plenty of raspberry and cherry, but there’s also acid, tannin and noticeable alcohol at 14.1% abv. It’s Pinot on a bigger frame: everything’s big, but balanced and rather tightly held together at this point. Of the three, this would be the one to cellar and age.
