2013 Tyler La Rinconada Pinot Noir

It was while working as assistant winemaker at Arcadian Winery that Justin Tyler Willet started honing his craft as a master of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. At the tender age of 24, he started playing around with a few barrels hidden in a corner of his employer’s space. These experiments would become the inception of his personal endeavour, Tyler, which 16 years on has become a flagship Californian modern classic, combining forward-thinking with precise elegance. His inspiration has come from local winemakers and European producers such as Roulot, Bonneau du Martray, Dujac, Bachelet and Rousseau.

The Tyler wines are vinified from grapes that tend to be picked earlier than most with the aim of achieving bright aromatics and fresh flavours with modest use of oak.

Tasting Note:
The La Rinconada is a single-vineyard on a rocky soiled, windy hilltop planted in 1997. The wine is aged for 15 months in oak barrels (30% of it in new barrels). On the nose this wine is intense and hugely layered. Wet stones, white pepper, violet, rose water, red berries, blackberry, red and black cherries. On the pallet the wine is mouth-filling and silky a broad and complex mix of floral notes, rose, black tea, raspberry, strawberries and red cherries. Very fine and classy! A pinot that deliveries both a superb nose and a massive palate of layered fruits. Finishes out to a long, long finish with a touch of baking spices.