Skip to product information

Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast Estate Grown, 2003

Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast Estate Grown, 2003

Halleck Vineyard

Only 12 bottles left in stock

Regular price
750ml | $172.00
Unit price
 per 

Accolades

Quantity

Want this member exclusive?
Join the Inner Circle

Member Login

Deep garnet color with crystalline translucency, but not transparency. Rich. Dark raspberry, cherry with wafting spices, including cinnamon, pepper and forest floor. A light feral undertone hinting of sensuality. Palate broad with full flavor saturation across all quadrants. Luscious, textural, gentle acidity.  Leaning to red fruits, rather than dark, including cranberry, cherry, and raspberry. The spicy aromas deliver on the tongue, with earthy forest floor. Complex with a long finish that penetrates and lingers. Rich good fruit of dark cherry, giving way to minerality. Long long finish!

When we planted our Estate Vineyard in 1993, our goals were not lofty.

There had never been a Pinot Noir vineyard planted in western Sebastopol, all the way to the coast. We were the first; we proceeded without a clue what we were doing. We purchased the rootstock from the Yellow Pages.

We thought it would be beautiful, relatively inexpensive landscaping and we could make “backyard garage wine.” In the best of all worlds, assuming the fruit good enough, we could sell it, pay for the agriculture, and have some left over as a college fund for our infant son. That was the big vision.

The vineyard produced fruit, but it was meager and took much longer than expected. It was six years before it bore a commercial crop. We had three sons by then. It seemed an unlikely college fund.

We sold it for blending to a small winemaker. He graciously made a couple of cases of the pre-blended wine from our vineyard as a gift. This is a courtesy often extended by winemakers to their growers.

Then we met Greg Lafollette. Greg had become a winemaking rock star with the meteoric rise of Flowers, the first “cult winery” in western Sonoma County. He oversaw the building of the winery and managed the winemaking for the Flowers family.

Greg’s kids were in elementary school with our kids. After a parent-teacher one evening, I gave Greg a bottle of our first vintage to get his opinion.

He called at dawn the next morning with an offer to buy our grapes and make a Halleck Vineyard designate the very next year. He was starting a winery called Tandem. We couldn’t have been more thrilled.

It’s first vintage, the 2001 Tandem, Halleck Vineyard Pinot Noir was judged #1 Pinot Noir in the US in 2002. This launched Halleck Vineyard. We have never since entered it in any competitions. There’s simply not enough.

In 2009, Dan Berger, respected and nationally syndicated columnist, declared it worthy of 100 points. In 2018, Somm Journal Magazine put Halleck Vineyard in the top 5 vineyards in all Sonoma County. One bottle of our 2001 vintage, our first, sold last year to a collector for $2500. He had tasted it at our annual Harvest Party.

In 2014, Canadian shaman Ari Nelson, worked with me in burying crystals within the vineyard to “grid” an area for enhanced energy and growth. We performed a ritual ceremony to introduce the crystals to the vines. This dedication to the mystical nature of agriculture has always been a cornerstone to our efforts. Though not biodynamic, our vineyard was the first organic vineyard in western Sonoma County.

Our Halleck Vineyard, Pinot Noir, remains the flagship of our fleet of wines. It is complex, boasting a nose of earth, fruit and spice in equal measure. It’s hard-telling whether the lead are earth tones one would expect of a Gran Cru Burgundy, or the deep red fruit notes of a Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. It’s certainly not a competition, as the wine delivers in full measure on both counts. Then it surprises with spice, minerals and white pepper as it unfolds and unfolds in a long languorous and mouth-watering finish. Time for another sip.

Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast Estate Grown, 2003
Quantity

Want this member exclusive?
Join the Inner Circle

Member Login

BUILDING COMMUNITY THROUGH WINE

  • Visitors indulge in a tasting experience at a renowned Sonoma winery, immersed in the scenic beauty of a picturesque vineyard. The winery showcases an impressive selection of wines, including exquisite Pinot Noirs, crafted from sustainably grown wine grapes sourced from single-vineyard sites. Guests can explore the diverse vintages and discover their passion for red wines in the inviting ambiance of the winery and its adjacent wine shop.

    Vineyard Community

    We invite you into our community of fine wine lovers. As vintners, we hope to make the world better by sharing our wines and using this platform to support noble causes across the planet. 

  • Visit our Sonoma Winery

    We hope to foster a personal connection with other epicureans who enjoy Sonoma wines. Hence we invite people to our home, travel to meet them, share meals, and invite them on trips around the world.

  • Environmental Stewardship

    Farming grapes is as much art as science. Our role is to sustainably shepherd our grapes to their greatest potential using guidance and inspiration from mother earth.