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Lost & Found, Sonoma Mountain Pinot Noir

California, United States 2017 (750mL)
$34.00
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Fruit
Earth
Body
Tannin
Acid
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SommSelect

Lost & Found, Sonoma Mountain Pinot Noir

It’s a documented fact that Pinot Noir prefers cool climates. It’s also a documented fact that Geoff Kruth prefers Pinot Noirs from cool climates. Most sommeliers do, but Geoff, a Master Sommelier who wears many professional hats, decided to take matters into his own hands and make wines in a balanced style with an ode to the Old World. 
We’ve featured several of Geoff’s Lost & Found wines on SommSelect, but I’d have to say that today’s is the most exciting release yet. Why? Because this 2017 Sonoma Mountain Pinot Noir isn’t just an exemplary cool-climate wine but an incredible value. Those of you who follow our offers closely know that premium California Pinot Noir usually has a premium price tag attached. Today’s has plenty of pedigree, including a shrewdly chosen vineyard source on the west face of Sonoma Mountain, but is priced for everyday enjoyment. It is also styled for everyday enjoyment: As Geoff notes, Lost & Found usually holds its Pinots back longer than most, but this 2017 “was just too tasty to wait.” Everyone here agrees: This is a lush yet lively red with the kind of floral, soul-stirring aromatics you find in Old World classics like Chambolle-Musigny and top wines from Oregon. It would make an extremely classy “house pour,” but whatever quantity you take it in, know that you’re getting a true bargain from a true talent.
Geoff crafts his Lost & Found wines with the very capable winemaking assistance of Megan Glaab, who also owns California’s Ryme Cellars with her husband, Ryan. Megan worked with Geoff as a sommelier at Sonoma’s acclaimed Farmhouse Inn, where he has been the longtime wine director, and their shared experience informs the concise, vineyard-driven Lost & Found lineup. The name “Lost & Found,” in fact, is a reference to the hunt for vineyards that enable Geoff to make the wines he wants to make.

One of these vineyards is called “The Nines” and is the source of today’s wine, which carries the Sonoma Mountain AVA designation. The five-acre site is on the west face of Sonoma mountain, exposing it to cooling breezes from the Pacific Ocean that zoom through the Petaluma Wind Gap. Grapes ripen slowly and evenly in clay/loam soils, after which Geoff and Megan ferment the wine on native yeasts in open-topped vats. They include about 30% whole grape clusters in the fermentation, which lends spice and tension, then age the wine for nine months in used French oak barriques.

In the glass, the 2017 Sonoma Mountain Pinot Noir has a delicate, diaphanous quality to it: It is a light- to medium garnet moving to ruby-pink at the rim, with a pretty nose of ripe wild strawberries, black cherries, red currants, fresh rose and violet petals, black tea, exotic spices, and a hint of underbrush. The purity of fruit shines and the tannins are like crushed velvet, while the acidity lends refreshing tension which brings everything into perfect harmony. Medium-bodied and ready to drink, I’d suggest serving it on the cool side, 55-60 degrees, in Burgundy stems with marinated grilled salmon, but this wine is so delicious it really doesn’t need food. Once again, Geoff has made a wine his fellow Master Sommeliers want to drink. Kudos!
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Country
United States
Region
California
Sub-Region
United StatesSonoma Mountain
Soil
Clay/Loam
Farming
Sustainable
Blend
Pinot Noir
Alcohol
13.5
OAK
Neutral French
TEMP.
60-65
Glassware
Burgundy Stems
Drinking
Now-2025
Decanting
Optional
Pairing
Marinated Grilled 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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