From the MacPhail Tasting Lounge @The Barlow, a really cool semi-industrial.semi-tourist development on Hwy 12, east side of Sebastopol. You can access the MacPhail, Spirit Works Distillery, a brewery, a cidery, Zazu resto, coffee bars, specialty shops, etc.
MacPhail Pratt Vineyard, Sonoma Coast, 2012, was purely delicious, soft and supple, a bit on the light side, soft cherry fruit without great complexity but with just a whiff of alluring, playful spice. This Sebastopol-area-edging-on-Green Valley wine was joyously fun to sip, and cradle in the hand, and sip again.
MacPhail Sangiacomo Vineyard, Sonoma Coast, 2013, was initially as luscious as the Pratt, but the vineyard, located in the windy and cobblestoned soil of the famous Petaluma Gap as it leads into Carneros, adds a deeper, darker, almost broody and earthy character to the bright red fruit. There’s fat plum, and a sprinkling of black pepper, even a faint whiff of allspice to add dimension and depth and resonance.
MacPhail Wildcat Vineyard, Sonoma Coast, 2013, stepped up another level. This hilltop vineyard farmed by fellow grower/winemaker Steve MacRostie had the black cherry at core teased with bright strawberry, then kickrd in with added brambly blackberry and dark plum atop surprisingly dense, concentrated earthy foundations, rounded out deliciously with compelling heavy-steeped black tea. A challenging and deeply complex Pinot Noir.
MacPhail Toulouse Vineyard, Anderson Valley, Philo, Mendocino, 2013. Solid and sturdy, shy at first but then emerging with authority, showing dense, meaty black cherry and fresh-scuffed forest floor laced with contrasting tart pomegranate, this wild and slightly savage Pinot is superbly balanced and held in check with sweet oak spice, tender tannins and resolute acidity, It drinks well now but shows promise of rewarding cellar aging with ever-deepening rich flavors and silky smoothness.
MacPhail Vagon Rouge Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, 2013. Vagon Rouge is a blend of MacPhail’s favorite six barrels of the vintage, selected this vintage from Lakeview, Susanna’s and Mardikian Estate vineyards, all in the Russian River Valley AVA. Stemmed, cold-soaked, natural malolactic, 50% new French oak, lees-stirred for 3 months, bottled unfined and unfiltered, this is about as pure an expression you can get of the convergence of grape, place and process when it comes to Sonoma Pinot Noir.
The source and the philosophy show through with startling clarity in this black-cherry and tart cranberry/pomegranate fruit-driven pinot lashed with uber-umami tones of fresh-turned earth, dirty mushrooms, peat moss. It is a savory wine in every direction yet somehow manages to show restraint through the balance of big fruit, big spice and big vanilla-oak spice meeting on even terms. The single-vineyard MacPhail pinots unfailingly exhibit unique evocations of a single source transparently displayed; the multi-sourced and carefully curated Vagon blend is more of a display of the MacPhail bold yet balanced style of winemaking.
