Fiddlehead Cellars Pinot Noir

After tasting the Sauvignon Blancs, I also had the opportunity to taste three of their Pinot Noirs. Interestingly enough, Fiddlehead produces a number of bottlings from both their Santa Rita Hills estate vineyard, Fiddlestix, as well as fruit from specific custom-farmed blocks in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

The Fiddlehead Oldsville Reserve 2006, while still the slightest bit hot, possessed an excellent balance between ripe dark cherries, flowers, licorice, and an earthier funkiness that was just intriguing. There was an addictive glycerin texture to the mid-palate, too, that will make it awfully difficult to lay a couple of bottles of this one down and not pillage them immediately. But some time in the cellar will definitely reward patience, and I expect that, once it sheds some of its youthful exuberance, this wine will evolve into one heck of a bottle of Willamette Pinot.

Heading south to California, the two wines produced from Fiddlehead’s estate vineyard were equally delicious yet in totally different ways. The Fiddlestix “Seven Twenty Eight” 2005 was, simply, darn good. It earthy nose led to a palate bursting with rich cherries, ripe berries, minerals, morels, violets and lavender. The combination of youthful power and dangerously easy gulpability was a result of both its beautifully integrated tannins and exquisitely balanced acidity in addition to the deep well of flavors it revealed with every sip. The finish—a long, graceful interplay of blackberries and black raspberries—was yet one more grace note in this stellar wine that should continue to evolve for another 3 – 7 years.

The barrel selection for the Fiddlestix “Lollapalooza” 2005, on the other hand—only 180 cases were produced, as opposed to 2,200 of the “Seven Twenty Eight”—resulted in a wine that was more elegant but just as deeply flavored. Pretty aromas of flowers and lavender wafted up from the glass, and well-concentrated dark berries left their imprint on the palate. This is a young wine that still needs time to absorb its oak and come into its own. Once it gets there, though, I expect it to be a standout—a rich, perfumed, ever-so-subtly spicy testament to the potential of this great vineyard. It’s fantastic now, but a couple of years should really give it a chance to shine even more brightly.

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Fiddlehead Cellars Sauvignon Blanc

I recently had the privilege of tasting a number of wines from Fiddlehead Cellars with Terence Livingston, their national sales manager, and Laura Lamprecht, owner of Specialty Wines and Liquors, Fiddlehead’s distributor.

They were, as always, excellent examples of both the grape varieties themselves (in this case Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir) as well as the vineyards in which the fruit was farmed.

Fiddlehead sources its Sauvignon Blanc from five vineyards in the eastern part of the Santa Ynez Valley: Stolpman, La Pressa, Grassini, Westerly, and Vogelzang. And within each vineyard, specific blocks are farmed according to Fiddlehead’s demands, which allows for an estate-vineyard level of attention to detail without the necessity of owning the vineyards themselves. (It’s a different case with the Pinot Noirs, but more on that tomorrow.)

I had a chance to taste two of the Sauvignon Blancs, and was very impressed with both of them. The Happy Canyon 2006, sourced from the Vogelzang and Westerly vineyards, showed a honeyed aroma on the nose, as well as slightly creamy, nutty notes in the background. An excellent sense of structure really came through almost despite the creamy, round nature of the palate. This was a quietly perfumed Sauvignon Blanc, showing charming flavors of lemon curd and white peach, and should probably be served just a touch warmer than you might be used to in order for all of its character to come through with maximum clarity.

The Hunnysuckle, on the other hand, was a rare treat not just because of its high quality, but because of its age. As a 2003, after all, it had the benefit of several more years of evolution than most California Sauvignon Blanc ever really receives.

That age showed right away in the wine’s deep, rich gold color. But those years, rather than rendering the wine tired and flabby, had worked some kind of magic. Wonderfully soft bell-pepper and apricot aromas led the way to surprisingly long flavors of both marzipan and fresh almonds, all of it carried on a texture that was more than a bit reminiscent of the great waxy whites of the Rhône Valley. The 2003 Hunnysuckle is a great example of the tremendous range and depth of California Sauvignon Blanc when grown properly and vinified with care, understanding, and passion.

Tomorrow, the Pinots…

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