2012 Maresh Vineyard Pinot Noir

From 2005 to 2011, “I was making wine fairly the same,” Jim Maresh says. “Around 2012 is when I was really in experimental mode, trying to learn new things, trying to reinvent the wheel.” Although it was a warm, relatively untroubled growing season, “I felt I could have done a better job on my pick dates,” Jim says. “I would have liked to have picked a little bit earlier.” He also experimented with using stems starting in 2012. “I was trying to wrap my mind around it. But I ended up completely abandoning stems, and I’ve been real happy about it ever since.” The 2012 Pinot Noir Maresh Vineyard has a vibrant ruby color and explosive aromas of strawberry, Italian plums, crème de violette, desiccated roses, shiitake mushrooms and soy sauce. The palate is powerfully styled, its succulent flavors structured by chalky tannins and vibrant acidity, and it has a long, latent finish. It hasn’t quite reached its peak, and it will continue to gain complexity in bottle over the next decade.