2020 Haliotide Wines Pinot Noir Extra Brut Rosé Topotero Vineyard
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Aged for 45 months sur latte and bottled with a dosage of four grams per liter, the 2020 Blanc de Blancs Stolo Vineyard is a slightly riper and rounder expression of the house. The nose exhibits an orchard fruit core with subtle tropical hints, pleasantly complicated by almond paste and pastry cream nuances. It is broad and textural on the palate, combining a subtle, layered richness with mouthwatering acidity that runs through the delicate and understated finish. I particularly enjoyed the slightly more powerful profile here, which offers a lovely counterpoint to the more fine-boned style that typically defines the wines.
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Jancis Robinson MW
Erin Brooks, Wine Advocate
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The 2020 Extra Brut Rosé, composed entirely of Pinot Noir, comes from the Topotero Vineyard in Avila Beach. Planted in 2000, it's just 1.5 miles from the Pacific Ocean, and vines grow in a mix of ancient seabed, silty clay and loam soils. Winemaker and Haliotide owner Nicole Bertotti Pope says 2020 was marked by a fairly warm growing season and ended with record temperatures in July and August. Because it was so warm, grapes were harvested very early on the 14th of August, avoiding any impact from wildfire smoke. "Making sparkling wine came as a blessing in a tough year like 2020," Bertotti Pope remarks. "After we picked, there was so much smoke up there." The Extra Brut Rosé was made entirely with free-run juice. It received five grams per liter dosage, spent 30 months en tirage, and was disgorged by hand in October of 2023. It has a medium salmon-pink color and is bursting with exotic perfume! Candied grapefruit, kiwi and pie crust are underpinned by loads of spicy accents. The medium-bodied palate is gently rounded with creamy mousse and pure, concentrated flavors. It has a focused spine of acidity and a very long, perfumed finish. This feels distinctly Californian! 120 cases were made.
Pinot Noir. The fruit comes from the Topotero vineyard. Foot-crushed and cold-soaked for colour extraction. Free-run juice only was fermented in a mix of stainless steel and neutral French oak, where the wine aged on lees for nine months before secondary fermentation. Malolactic conversion inhibited. Aged 30 months on lees. Dosage 5 g/l. 1,440 bottles made. Pale salmon-pink with medium-fine bubbles. Smells of watermelon and berries with a hint of wet chalkboard. Juicy citrus-peel and strawberry flavours mix with hints of white tea and saffron amidst a voluminous mousse. Juicy, with a sour-cherry and citrus-peel finish. (AY)