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Cobb Wines, Pinot Noir, Jack Hill Vineyard

California, United States 2013 (750mL)
$75.00
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Fruit
Earth
Body
Tannin
Acid
Alcohol

Cobb Wines, Pinot Noir, Jack Hill Vineyard

For better or worse, we in the wine trade still use red Burgundy as the benchmark for great Pinot Noir. And by that measure (or any other I can think of) Ross Cobb makes amazing Pinot Noir.
SommSelect is lucky to have gotten a small allocation of Cobb’s 2013 “Jack Hill Vineyard” Pinot Noir – a very limited-production bottling typically reserved for his mailing list – to offer to you. To me, this impeccably balanced Pinot Noir could compete with Chambolle-Musigny at twice or even three times its price. This is one of the best Pinot Noirs ever produced in California from an incredibly steep and cool climate site just outside the small town of Occidental in western Sonoma County. From the 8 barrels made, we were allocated just enough to offer you this wine.
At only two-and-a-half acres, Jack Hill Vineyard is one of the several tiny plots Ross works with on California’s Sonoma Coast, where his father, David, first planted their family’s Coastlands Vineyard in 1989. The Cobbs were pioneering growers in what is now thought of as California’s premier appellation for Pinot Noir, and even now they sell some fruit from Coastlands to the famed Williams-Selyem Winery. With contract vineyards like Jack Hill, Cobb enjoys complete control over all the farming decisions, and depending on the vintage, the yield is only 200 to 400 cases of wine. So you can understand why we try to get as much of this wine as we can.

Ross made about 200 cases of this 2013, which he describes as an “early” vintage for this cool, coastal vineyard – Jack Hill faces west to the nearby Pacific, at an elevation of about 700 feet, right in the path of cooling, sun-shielding fogs. “Normally we harvest Jack Hill in early October, but ’13 was around mid-September,” he says. “This vintage definitely has a little more forward fruit than the ’12.”
In the winery, Ross’ style is appealingly understated (in addition to making his own wines, he’s a well-traveled consultant, having made wine for Hirsch, Anaba, Banshee and others). In 2013, he says he used about 40% “whole clusters” in his ferments, and this inclusion of stems among the grape solids – a common practice in Burgundy – helps lend the wine edge and backbone, while also taming alcohols. This vintage has aged a total of 30 months in oak, only 30% of which was new.

About the only thing that separates this wine from a top red Burgundy is its lack of austerity: it’s tannins are supple and silky, its oak subtly integrated. It is incredibly perfumed – its aromatics are what sent me in comparison to Chambolle-Musigny – with a complex mix of freshly picked strawberries, huckleberries, exotic spices, underbrush, black tea and rose notes. There’s energy and lift here that makes me think it’ll age incredibly well if you can wait that long: if not, decant it about an hour before drinking it with some grilled veal chops or a simple, perfect roast chicken. You also might want to contemplate it on its own – this is emotional, memorable stuff!
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Country
United States
Region
California
Sub-Region
United StatesSonoma Coast
Soil
Sandy Loam
Farming
Sustainable
Blend
Pinot Noir
Alcohol
12.8
OAK
30% New French
Glassware
Burgundy Stem
Drinking
10 years
Decanting
1 hour

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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