I'm belatedly reporting on a wine dinner that occurred during Triangle Wine Experience, an annual event that benefits Frankie Lemmon School. I attended the dinner at Fearrington House, near Pittsboro, NC. For background on Lutum Wines you can go to this link: http://lutumwines.com/ They specialize in Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs from selected vineyards in California. With butternut squash we had the 2014 LUTUM DURELL VINEYARD CHARDONNAY, SONOMA COAST. This had some vanillin on the nose. It was creamy but balanced, showing some finesse. Stone fruits and volcanic soil contributed to the depth.
The next course was black cod with hearts of palm and capers served with 2014 LUTUM SANFORD & BENEDICT VINEYARD CHARDONNAY, STA. RITA HILLS, SANTA BARBARA COUNTY. The grapes are grown on a loam soil. The presenter pointed out that this wine is more acidic than the previous wine. I liked this one better.
With the main course of chicken with honey and buttermilk coating, potato and truffle and leeks, we had 2014 LUTUM GAP'S CROWN VINEYARD PINOT NOIR, SONOMA COAST (rocky soils with excellent drainage, French oak 30% new) I liked this wine. It was quite aromatic with sassafras, rhubarb and some herbal touches. It was also a pretty shade of light ruby fading even more at the rim. The flavor included dark cherry but not cherry cola.
We also had the 2012 LUTUM SANFORD & BENEDICT PINOT NOIR, STA. RITA HILLS, SANTA BARBARA COUNTY. It was darker in appearance than the Gap's Crown and viscous. It again displayed dark cherries. I was deeply in engaged in conversation with a couple and a father and son at my table and didn't take much in the way of notes at this point. I think we had both the 2012 and 2014 vintages of this wine but there was some confusion about which was poured first so I was unclear which vintage I was drinking.
Both the dinner and the wines were quite pleasurable. The wines sell for about $50 to $60 a bottle from the website. Bien Nacido is another vineyard where grapes are sourced for a Lutum wine.