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Ghostwriter, Pinot Noir

California, United States 2018 (750mL)
$34.00
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Ghostwriter, Pinot Noir

There’s no question that Kenny Likitprakong is a man of many talents, but if I had to single out one, it would be his deft hand with Pinot Noir. This hand-crafted, small-batch wine crushes the style/region/price point competition and consistently generates serious, earth-rattling noise throughout America’s major cities. Still, this isn’t about Kenny’s wines “having a moment” with the hip, cash-happy in-crowd: I have repeatedly written that there’s an explosion of forward-thinking talent and extraordinary wine coming out of California in recent years and Kenny Likitprakong is one of the few leading the pack.


Since our inception, we’ve witnessed Kenny’s transformation into a generation-defining superstar, a success built upon years of digging in the trenches, a workmanlike approach to winemaking, and his dogged insistence that wines remain available to everyone at an extremely reasonable price. Accordingly, his Ghostwriter Pinot Noir bottlings are the real deal: several steps forward, both in style and quality with offerings that are a fascinating amalgamation of Sonoma, Oregon, and Burgundy. Today’s 2018 is a paragon of that talent and the defining reason why sommeliers’ palates have been glued to Santa Cruz as of late. Sure, I may be an avowed Burgundy hound, but right now Ghostwriter has the stage. If you don’t know his wines, you need to—these Pinots are truly on another level.


While Kenny Likitprakong grew up in Sonoma within a constellation of winemaking and grape-growing parents, aunts, and uncles, he always gravitated toward surfing, skateboarding, and the work of his favorite authors. Fortunately for us, that all changed during Kenny's first trip to Europe in the 1990s. He returned home inspired, and soon enrolled in UC Davis’ famed viticulture and enology degree program. Unlike most of his local winemaking peers in the early 2000's, Kenny was adamant about bottling wines both moderate in alcohol and balanced in fruit, savory, and mineral elements. Over the last decade and a half, Kenny has honed his craft in the cellar while also becoming a respected vineyard manager throughout Northern California. Today, he commands an impressive array of small vineyard plots in Mendocino, Sonoma, and Santa Cruz counties, almost all dry-farmed and organically grown. He bottles these small lots under a variety of labels, but Ghostwriter represents the top of his entire line.



Kenny isn’t just a great winemaker, though—he’s a great person. I can recall back in 2017 when he and his family were hosting a fundraiser to build schools for refugee children from war-torn countries. They opened their cellar doors and brought together local chefs, rock bands, breweries, and a small army of volunteers, all who donated a wealth of time and resources. He doesn’t do this stuff for PR value, though. It’s clear the event was an earnest, all-hands-on-deck, bootstrapped deal with a lean operating budget that sent every last dollar to the kids. I’ve never seen Kenny hobnobbing in Napa or climbing the social ladder at society events, but he’s hosted multiple fundraisers and there always seems to be a case of his wine at local charity auctions. This guy has his priorities straight and that’s something to which we can all raise a glass.



This 2018 Santa Cruz County cuvée originates from a small collection of tiny, organically-farmed vineyards Kenny works by hand in the hills around the foggy coastal town of Santa Cruz. Per usual, grapes ferment with 100% native, airborne yeasts, and no fining agents are used throughout the entire process. After maturing in neutral French barrels, the wine is bottled without filtrations and minimal amounts of sulfur. The nose is a perfect synopsis of Kenny’s unique brand of mountain Pinot Noir: There is ample red fruit and the energy, minerality, and tension of Burgundy, but everything is carefully positioned over a dense sublayer of darker black cherry/blackberry and forest notes. On the palate, an eruption of fully ripe, cool forest fruit envelopes the senses and builds into an ultra-savory finish. It’s liquid elegance, royalty, and precision all in on one. When serving, please decant this beauty for 15-30 minutes and serve at a steady 60 degrees in large Burgundy stems. I’ve enjoyed a few older bottles of Kenny’s Pinot Noir over the last 5+ years and can attest to their impressive ageability, so I can’t wait to see what this 2018 becomes in a few more years. Cheers!
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Country
United States
Region
California
Sub-Region
United StatesSanta Cruz County
Soil
Various
Farming
Organic
Blend
Pinot Noir
Alcohol
13.05
OAK
Neutral French
TEMP.
60
Glassware
Burgundy Stems
Drinking
Now-2025+
Decanting
15-30 Minutes
Pairing
Herb-Roasted Salmon

United States

Washington

Columbia Valley

Like many Washington wines, the “Columbia Valley” indication only tells part of the story: Columbia Valley covers a huge swath of Central
Washington, within which are a wide array of smaller AVAs (appellations).

Oregon

Willamette Valley

Oregon’s Willamette Valley has become an elite winegrowing zone in record time. Pioneering vintner David Lett, of The Eyrie Vineyard, planted the first Pinot Noir in the region in 1965, soon to be followed by a cadre of forward-thinking growers who (correctly) saw their wines as America’s answer to French
Burgundies. Today, the Willamette
Valley is indeed compared favorably to Burgundy, Pinot Noir’s spiritual home. And while Pinot Noir accounts for 64% of Oregon’s vineyard plantings, there are cool-climate whites that must not be missed.

California

Santa Barbara

Among the unique features of Santa Barbara County appellations like Ballard Canyon (a sub-zone of the Santa Ynez Valley AVA), is that it has a cool, Pacific-influenced climate juxtaposed with the intense luminosity of a southerly
latitude (the 34th parallel). Ballard Canyon has a more north-south orientation compared to most Santa Barbara AVAs, with soils of sandy
clay/loam and limestone.

California

Paso Robles

Situated at an elevation of 1,600 feet, it is rooted in soils of sandy loam and falls within the Highlands District of the Paso Robles AVA.

New York

North Fork

Wine growers and producers on Long Island’s North Fork have traditionally compared their terroir to that of Bordeaux and have focused on French varieties such as Cabernet Franc and Merlot.

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