2018 Rarissime Pinot Noir

Our Rare ONE-BARREL Release

 TRIPTYCH OF MONOCLONE® PINOT NOIRS

From the Phenomenal 2018 Vintage

 Single Vineyard, Single Clone, ONE barrel…Soliste

Claude and I sat together the other day to taste three of our 2018 Single Barrel MonoClone Pinot Noirs and select one to release. As our story goes, the name Soliste comes from the special single barrel the Burgundian vigneron reserves for friends and family. Our single barrel wines represent the promise and journey that is Soliste. We wanted to select an outstanding single barrel wine from an exceptional vintage to share with you. 

Each of these three wines epitomized why we love Pinot Noir. Of all the cépages, it is the most complex, exotic, cerebral, and enigmatic. And at times, perhaps showing its French roots, can be very frustrating and challenging. This is why we are both infatuated with and passionate about Pinot Noir, and why we care so deeply about our mission to craft the very best wines year after year. Selecting just one took much debate – and more than a glass or two. Suddenly, Claude announced, “These are so incroyable, instead of waiting and releasing them one at a time, let's showcase them together, and at once!” Sometimes the best decision is no decision at all. 

I’ll turn it over to Claude for his tasting notes:

This stellar vintage captures all the Alchemy that becomes Great Pinot Noir. This is a vintage for the purist. 2018 has gifted us precision, depth, pure aromatics, and length to craft and select ONE barrel of three distinctive and singular Pinots from specific sites, terroir, and MonoClone. Each is aged for 16 months in a single barrel. The rewards are Pinot Noir’s intoxicating nose, powerful yet refined with layers of pure fruit density, spice, sous-bois, truffles, amazing length, and complex finish.  

These three One Barrel MonoClone wines are so uniquely different that we simply could not resist but to do ONE release for you to experience their individual character – Vive la différence! 

2018 RARISSIME MonoClone Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast - Vosne-Romanée aux Brulées Ouest

Scintillating garnet gemlike clarity in the glass with extreme density and texture from the whole cluster press. The bouquet is pure, precise, complex; musty and earthy at the onset, then wafting from the glass in a blaze of peppery black plums and sweet dark berries. As the wine evolves in the glass or decanter, the aromatics become denser and more voluptuous with dark cherry, cassis, and plum compote, superbly elegant and floral, layered with dried maple leaves, cedar, and caramel. The front palate delivers a paradox of powerful fruit concentration and silky texture with layers of dark and red cherries, blueberries, plums, vanilla, exotic spice, and black tea. The second taste is generous and expansive, reflecting the class and pedigree of the vineyard, with bitter caramel boysenberry/ blueberry compote, spiced plums, spiked with black pepper, cocoa nibs, and citrus zests. The mid-palate is unctuous at first then accentuated with musty sous-bois, and dried maple leaves, with a deep tannin grip from the 100% whole cluster press. The generous fruits and tannin balance each other to accentuate the vibrant acidity, which lifts the wine into a smooth yet persistent finish. Positively refined in texture and fruit concentration, but palpably dense in tannic concentration, the finish has verve and expanse. Impressive…