Birichino Boer Vineyard Pinot Noir, Chalone, USA 2020

Alex Krause and John Locke founded Birichino in Santa Cruz in 2008. Drawing on a combined four decades making wine in California, France, Italy, and beyond, they are focused on attaining the perfect balance of perfume, poise, and puckishness. Sourcing from a number of carefully farmed, family-owned, own-rooted 19th and early 20th century vineyards (and a few from the late disco era) planted by and large in more moderate, marine-influenced climates, their preoccupation is to safeguard the quality and vibrance of their raw materials. They prefer minimal intervention in the cellar, employing native fermentations, stainless or neutral barrels, minimal racking and fining, and avoiding filtration altogether when possible so that the distinctive qualities of the sites with which they are lucky to work is highlighted. But most critically, their aim is to make delicious wines that give pleasure, revitalize, and revive. 

Boer amply demonstrates why the Chalone AVA is so utterly distinctive. Nearly 2000’ up in the Gabilan Range by Pinnacles National Park, it boasts a vanishingly rare amalgam of decomposing granite [from the eruption 26 million years ago of the now-extinct Neenach volcano] and soft, chalky lime- stone [remnant of an ancient seabed uplifted by tectonic subduction] with extreme daily temperature swings. The unusual geology juxtaposes power and tannin against elegance and detail, while the wide 50 degree diurnal shift plugs 220 volts of clean solar power into every bottle.

Many a tech sheet includes text regarding the differ- ence between this vintage and the previous, musings on how Vineyard X renders Variety Y in such singular fashion, and plenty of less redeemable vinobabble. Boer saves us from much of that embarrassing drivel in that the site produces classic California Pinot Noir year after year, with very minor vintage variation. Yes, the wine hardly resembles the Pinot Noir produced across the Salinas Valley in the Santa Lucia Highlands, and carries the imprint of Chalone, however vintage variations pale in comparison to the wine’s consistency. Boer has proven one of the most crowd pleasing wines we produce. Fragrant, medium bodied, yet oh so persistent.

$40.00