2010 Forêt Pinot Noir

The Last of Our 2010 Series of MonoClone® Pinot Noirs

Memories and scents from Vosne Romanée

Our participation at “In Pursuit Of Balance” in San Francisco and Los Angeles was the perfect time to showcase the last Pinot Noir in our series of MonoClone® wines from the 2010 vintage: Forêt -- Mesmerizing, Intense, Exotic, Focused, Harmonious, dare I say it reminds me of Vosne Romanée Aux Brûlées……Soliste. (Richard Jennings article about Soliste at IPOB: Huffington Post - RJ on Wine)

The release of Forêt completes our 2010 vintage of Single Vineyard, Single Clone, and Single Cooperage (MonoClone) wines. Why have we accepted this unknown risk to make MonoClone Pinots? It simply comes from our fascination for great red Burgundies. These amazing wines all have very different aromatics and complexities within just a few kilometers: Volnay is very different from Gevrey, Chambolle, Pommard, Vosne, Vougeot, Corton… So we decided to identify a Single Clone, married with a specific site, climate and exposure and then, aged individually in their respective single cooperage (barrels).

Forêt is absolutely unique, stand alone, and we did not think in our wildest dreams that it would be possible to craft a Pinot Noir in California of such depth, spice and earthiness. Forêt is indeed ready now, but it will age for many years as the structure of this magnificent wine is timeless. As we release our last child of this generation into our world of friends, we should not have a favorite child, but this year, Forêt it is. Forêt brings me back home to my Bourgogne from a very unlikely place in the Sonoma fog where Don and I began together the journey that is Soliste.

Forêt 2010, the mysterious and intoxicating aromas of Vosne Romanée. 

Tasting Notes

Le Regard / The Look
Mysterious depth and luminosity showing density and structure, dark boysenberry gemlike in the glass, a clear reflection of tannin purity.

Le Nez / The Nose
Extremely Exotic aromas of bitter caramelized wild cherries, boysenberry, and earthiness interlaced with oriental spices, black tea, espresso grounds and refined scents of sous-bois (forest floor). As the wine evolves in the glass or decanter, the aromatics become more focused and linear with dark cherry compote aromatics, superbly elegant and powerful, adding bitter chocolate and black truffles.

Degustation / The Taste
The palate delivers extraordinary texture and depth with layers of exotic spice and black tea. This is a wine of great depth, powerful, with bitter caramel dark wild cherries and spiced plums, spiked with black pepper, cocoa nibs, and vanilla fat. The mid-palate is definitely earthy (oh, Vosne Romanée here you come) laced of musty sous-bois (forest floor), black tea, anise, and dry herbal aromatics, all in superb balance and harmony. Positively refined in texture but palpably dense in tannic concentration, the finish is simply infinite. It will linger and linger and…

14.1% alc. 149 cases