AROMA: sour plum, red rose, baking spice
FLAVOR: wild blackberry, red & black cherries, hibiscus
FOOD PAIRINGS: tuna poke, 5-spice duck breast, roasted gamehens
VINIFICATION: 8 tons of pristine Pinot Noir hand harvested and table sorted on Oct 4-15. All clones fermented on wild yeasts with 25% whole clusters in a mix of 2 and 5 ton open-top fermenters. A 4-day cold soak preceded one daily punch down and pump-over during a 15-day fermentation. Aged for 10-mos in 28% new French oak. Bottled unfined/unfiltered.
SITE: This wine is composed of two neighboring vineyards in the newly minted Comptche AVA on the Mendocino coast. Sitting in a prime spot 14 miles from the ocean in the Albion Wind Gap, this foggy, forested zone sees 40° diurnal shifts. Pinot clones 667, 777, 115, & Pommard planted in 2000 on Franciscan soils. Chimera refers to a rare albino redwood tree towering over the property.
NOTES: We've been waiting to share this wine with the world—the first rendering from the newly minted Comptche AVA on the far Mendocino coast. After years of petitioning, growers John Peterson and Saul Ramirez were awarded appellation status for their vineyards Peterson and Costa—two of just three vineyards that qualify for the AVA (the third is Oppenlander). The AVA is defined by its low lying elevation (300-400 feet) and proximity to the nearby Pacific Ocean (14 miles) with it's reliable fog and cool air. The proximate Albion Wind Gap plays an important role channeling the ocean influence into the coastal valleys. Densely forested, extremely remote, and alive with exotic wildlife such as
black bears, bald eagles and steelhead—this may be the most 'wilderness wine' LIOCO has bottled since our days at old Chalone. The wines remind us of the best deep-end sites in the nearby Anderson Valley like Kiser, Wendling, and Bear Wallow—but for half the price. New frontiers often bring value. Grower John Peterson, whose family were homesteaders on this land in the 1800s, tells the story of an extremely rare albino redwood tree that looms over the property—a pale white tree that botanists from around the world come to study. The locals call that tree Chimera.
