A cooper, as we all know, is someone who makes barrels, whose best destination is as something in which to age wine or whiskey, providing richness and flavor. Removing the last two letters gives us a coop, which is a good place to house chickens or other fowl.
Even a most diligent punster or player of word games would find it difficult to make something out of this, but Joe Otos, winemaker of the fine Pinot Noirs of Willowbrook Cellars, lived it. Sort of.
The first wine he ever made was created in an abandoned chicken coop in Sonoma County, pressed from 400 pounds of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes he had picked himself. A friend, who was a cooper, made a barrel for aging.
He’s moved on from there, and we’ll move on from the word play. . . .
At the moment, Otos is a partner and the winemaker at Willowbrook Cellars, in the Sonoma County town of Sebastopol, and he made three 2005 Pinot Noirs from Sonoma County, each with a different designation, and each outstanding. But each is different from the others, showing an individual character. Tasting all of them one evening was a rare experience, and a delicious one.
The wines are from the Dutton Morelli Lane Vineyard in the Russian River Valley (approximate retail price, $42), the Willowbrook Estate Vineyard, on a hilltop over the Russian River ($34) and the Kastania Vineyard, on the Sonoma Coast ($48).
All are young, and the Morelli Lane needed about an hour in the glass to get close to superb. It’s rich and extremely intense in the aroma, with cigar box, strawberry and anise overtones. The flavor is of spice and rich, red fruit and the finish is long and impressive. The grapes, by the way, are from the Pommard clone, and the vineyard altitude is 900 feet, with Pacific breezes to keep things cool. Otos aged the wine in French Troncais oak, to which he credits the spice.
All the 2005 wines benefitted from a longer-than-usual growing season, and the extra hang time brought fuller body and more concentrated aroma. Otos noted that while the 2004 harvest of both Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon took place in late August, the ‘05 crop hung until early October, and the extra month made a lot of difference.
Otos refers to the Kastania vineyard as a "dream vineyard," in the southern part of Sonoma County between the Pacific and San Pablo Bay. The vineyard is tucked under a ridge on a south-facing slope, protecting it from the ocean winds. "I’ve been trying to get grapes from grower Hoot Smith for several years, and finally convinced him to share some. The long, mild summer of 2005, like a Burgundian summer, made for lengthy hang time. We picked in small batches, making four passes through the vineyard."
The result is an exciting wine, though it should have another year or so of bottle age before drinking. There are coffee and tar in the aroma, and a lot of black cherry fruit on the palate, plus hints of currant. It’s a delicious wine today, but will be tremendous later.
The Estate Vineyard is in the Russian River Valley appellation, planted with Dijon clones of both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. A bit of Chardonnay was added to the harvest to stabilize the color, according to the winemaker. With different clones from those planted in the Morelli Vineyard, and aging in Alliers oak ("It doesn’t compete with the fruit," Otos said), the wine has darker tones, with cocoa and black cherry strong in the aroma, and the latter quality remaining through the taste. The wine is ready now, with splendid softness and real vibrancy in the flavor.
As a trio, the ‘05 Otos Pinot Noirs are exceptional. And they’re a perfect answer to those who say that California wines tend to be similar. These are very different, proving once again that climate, terroir and winemakers’ techniques still put individual stamps on wines.
