Occidental SWK Vineyard Pinot Noir 2014
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Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
So much oyster shell and blue berry aromas. Plus mushroom. Full body, spicy and minerally. Lots of white pepper undertones and intensity. Electric. Long and lively. Beautiful fruit.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium ruby-purple in color, the 2014 Pinot Noir SWK Vineyard appears to playing it close to the chest at this early stage, offering subtle suggestions of red cherries, raspberry leaves, Provence herbs and fragrant earth with a hint of Sichuan pepper. Medium-bodied, elegant, fine and tightly-knit on the palate, it has a wonderfully lively backbone and persistent earth and herb layers on the finish. Not giving quite as much as the other two vineyard-designate wines, I’ve been cautious with my scoring and look forward to seeing what this wine can do over the next decade.
Rating: 94+
Other Vintages
2017-
Parker
Robert
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Dunnuck
Jeb -
Parker
Robert
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Dunnuck
Jeb
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Parker
Robert
Occidental is Steve Kistler’s pinot noir project with a singular focus – to make world-class pinot noir from unique sites on the headlands in the Freestone-Occidental area. Since the early 1990s, Steve Kistler has believed that the climate and soils on the uplifted marine terraces and ridges around the town of Bodega would be ideal for growing distinctive and Burgundian-style pinot noir. Steve founded Occidental as a small, family brand in 2011, and built a state-of-the-art winery just east of the town of Bodega overlooking the Pacific Ocean. He now works alongside his eldest daughter, Catherine. The Occidental vineyards represent the western edge of where pinot noir can be successfully grown in California. Steve and his team at Occidental now farm 85 acres of pinot noir vineyards in the Freestone-Occidental area with great skill and commitment. The Occidental pinot noirs are crystalline wines with vivid aromatics and intense red-fruit flavors. They have a wonderfully chiseled quality, layered with savory and mineral character.
The Sonoma Coast AVA is large in area but, not counting overlapping regions like Russian River Valley, only has a few thousand acres of grapevines—and it’s no wonder. Much of the region is rugged and not easily accessible. Its proximity to the Pacific Ocean’s fog and cool breezes limits the varieties that can be cultivated, but it proves to be an ideal environment for high quality Pinot Noir.
Since fog is a frequent fact of life here, as are heavy marine layers that sometimes bring rain, the best vineyards are wisely planted above the fog line, on picturesque ridges that capture enough sun to provide even ripening. That, with the overnight drop in temperature that reliably preserves acidity, results in fine expressions of Pinot Noir that often receive tremendous critic and consumer praise alike, and are often in high demand.