Barber Cellars Sonoma Mtn Pinot Gris (6)

Barber Cellars Sonoma Mountain Pinot Gris 6-Pack
$69.99 $127.00 45% off List Price
2012 Chimaera Pinot Gris, Sonoma Mountain, Sonoma County
CT link above

Winery website

2012 Barber Cellars Pinot Gris Chimaera, Sonoma Mountain, Sonoma County

Just arrived and fetched on the way home from Glendora, a cork finished without capsule bottle lacking a UPC.
Thinking small production and this is confirmed on the back label; only 250 cases.
Interesting blend 85% Pinot Gris and 15% Marsanne. While I’ve had some PG in the past, it’s not a favorite of mine. Marsanne, otoh, I’ve quite enjoyed some of Peter W’s bottles. Looking forward to the pairing. Looks like the PG for this may have come from a Keller Estate vineyard that overlooks Petaluma and the Petaluma Gap; curious about the Marsanne source.

Chilled for a couple hours in the fridge following delivery, the pour is distinctive. Not a pale yellow or straw I’d expected, pale yes, but with a bit of rose tint; perhaps like a white brass hue. Nor is it clear, but rather slightly hazy. Reading further I see this is only lightly filter and bottled unfined. Here I recall some Inspiration chardonnay from Jon that was not initially well received until given a proper time to settle out, as one would customarily do with an older or unfiltered red. No jumping to any rash conclusions here with this one.

Nose is moderate to aromatic, crisp with citrus, grapefruit would be my closest guess, but buffered with tropical aromas as well, melons, papaya or mango I’d think. Actually a bit too chilled, I’ll expect this to open up a bit as it warms.

Entry is a mixture of crisp minerality, but decidedly buffered by the Marsanne with some lush fruitiness rounding out the citrus with medium body. I could use a bit of additional acidity here to liven things up, it’s just a bit too smooth for my palate. Dry to off dry; not sure this has much RS but likely the fruit contributing.

The flavors pretty much follow without surprises the nose. The finish is much longer than that of a straight PG; a good 5~7 seconds.

At this point this is an easy drinker that sips well or should pair with lighter fare.

I’m going to let this settle overnight to see how and if it cleans up in such a short time and revisit with additional notes tomorrow.

Looks like this is available at some local retailers for ~$16, but CT has it at under $11. Must have been on sale somewhere not listed and would be a nice bottle at that price. $18 on the producers website with a 10% case discount.

[edit]
Now seeing the listing, my first question for the winery, should they appear, is what are the pH, TA and RS numbers. At 14.5% AbV, this hides the alcohol very well.

rjquillin:

2012 Barber Cellars Pinot Gris Chimaera, Sonoma Mountain, Sonoma County
Chilled for a couple hours in the fridge following delivery, the pour is distinctive. Not a pale yellow or straw I’d expected, pale yes, but with a bit of rose tint; perhaps like a white brass hue. Nor is it clear, but rather slightly hazy. Reading further I see this is only lightly filter and bottled unfined…
[/quote]

The description mentions this was on the skins for four hours before pressing. And since pinot gris is a red grape, that’s probably accounting for the rose tint. My guess anyway.

Thanks for the notes RJ, leaving the wine on skins and the addition of the marsanne would create a heavier mouthfeel. (medium bodied white) we typically prefer our PG in a nice light style, I have had a more medium bodied one from the hahn winery from their reserve series from SLH that was damn good. This might be interesting. Unfortunately I am on a serious SIWBM for a couple of months. Maybe a woot-off during the summer will net me a couple of bottles of this.

Very cool to see Barber Cellars on Wine.Woot! today.

This wine falls into that “everyday drinker” list for me, easy, down-the-hatch, pre-dinner quaffer. Not as nerdy perhaps as the Old World Winery Pinot Gris - so more pleasing to all in my opinion.

I know the winemaker - here’s to supporting the smallest producers out there following their passion - Cheers!

Thanks for the wonderful comments and tasting observations- this is year one with my experiments with pinot gris. The fruit actually comes from a sonoma mountain vineyard - morning sun - which is about as high on sonoma mountain as you can get. On my website ‘Keller Estate’ is highlighted- but that’s for the 2013 gris which is around the corner. Lots of volcanic soil at Morning Sun, and I really wanted to highlight the minerality of the vineyard with as little intrusive winemaking as possible. The ph was about 3.4 - I don’t have the rest of the numbers on me at the moment (posting from home)- hope everyone enjoys! :slight_smile:

Oh and I should mention per previous comments- 0 RS, and the pinot gris started at around 3.5ph. The marsanne was very lean and bright, and I added it to sharpen the big California pinot gris.

I have always been fascinated with skin contact gris from loire- so I really wanted to get as much flavor as possible with some hours on the skin(we did some lees stirring as well) to create a rich and floral wine.

My initial impression would have suggested a higher number. How is the TA?

Sorry for the late review! Just got back from Vegas last night - and there’s a monkey delivered bottle awaiting - so I guess the party continues.

Color was a bright straw to me and nice to the eye.

The nose was definitely tropical fruit with mango present. This was debated in the household - really - mango, yes mango and I also threw out papaya but decided it didn’t quite have that distinct taste. So happy to see I won’t be laughed at given RJ’s notes above :slight_smile:

Palate wasn’t as interesting to me as on the nose, some initial acidity but the a fairly rounded mouthfeel which I put down to the Marsanne. It was hard to distinguish but if I had to pick out something I’d go with melon.

Easy drinking - enjoy!

Day two:

Really cleared up with only an overnight settling. While I’d still call this cloudy, it’s much closer to clear now than yesterday. Yes, there is visible sediment in the bottle; treat this like a red.

The nose hasn’t changed dramatically, but the palate does seem more concise for some reason I don’t fully understand.

For those that may have tasted both the Gård from Columbia Valley and the Old World Winery from RRV, this is much closer to the latter.

Jon got dinged pretty badly with his unfiltered '08 Inspiration Chard also from RRV for those that didn’t heed his suggestion to let it settle. This isn’t to that level, but did improve overnight and seems like it would continue to do so with additional time.

My only nit, and it’s personal, is that I’d like just a bit more acidic bite. Nonetheless, this is a very quaffable bottle at a fair price.

Info post:
All tasting notes for this wine have been cross posted into CT under user name wine.woot_taster. User names have been removed to protect the guilty. PM me if you want your tasting note removed or user name added back.

Thanks and back to the wineing.