2018 Patz & Hall Wine Company Jenkins Ranch Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 750 ml

Along with names like Williams Selyem and Kistler, Patz & Hall practically created the elite canon of Sonoma Pinot Noir. Wine Spectator has called them “one of California’s most consistently outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay producers.”

Patz & Hall co-founder James Hall, who resumed ownership of the estate last year, has decades-long contracts with legendary vineyards like Dutton Ranch, Hyde, Gap’s Crown, and Pisoni. When it comes to Sonoma Pinot grapes, he gets the pick of the litter in every vintage.

Jenkins Ranch, nestled in the Sebastopol Hills, is an18-acre site farmed by Charlie Chenowerth, one of the North Coast’s most revered vineyard managers. Situated on a northeast-facing hillside, endowed with classic Goldridge soils, it enjoys both cool coastal influences and protection from some of the Petaluma Gap’s brisker breezes.

In other words, it’s the perfect site for Hall’s favored style of Pinot Noir, tending to produce fruit-forward, broodingly intense Pinots. Hall isn’t squeamish about concentration when conditions merit it, and Sonoma’s 2018 harvest was hailed by Jeb Dunnuck as “brilliant” and “ideal” by Wine Spectator.

The Patz & Hall team fermented this wine with around 10% whole clusters, then gave it 18 months in Burgundian French oak barrels, 60% of them new. With additional years in bottle, it has only gained in suppleness and grace.