Woodenhead's Amazing Wines: Proof That Stubbornness Will Get You Everywhere When it Comes To Pinot Noir

Who wouldn't love to go to a winery named for the fact that the winemaker is so stubborn that an ex-girlfriend called him "Woodenhead?" You may not, but if that stubbornness translates to an unyielding dedication to quality, you would probably change your mind (and, for those of you who are like me, maybe finding a kindred spirit in the stubborn department may be a little refreshing....).

I didn't know that was the origin of the name when both the folks at Siduri and the famous and fabulous wine blogger, Hardy Wallace (formerly of the ATL/Dirty South Wine and now of the Natural Process Alliance -- more on that in a future post) recommended we go there, but MC Ice and I were wowed and thrilled with the wines of this 4,000 case winery off River Road in Forestville near Santa Rosa.

In case I haven't made it clear, I am not often a fan of California Pinot Noir. I know it's an unpopular stance but I am damn picky about Pinot. There are versions of it I love -- Burgundy, New Zealand, and Oregon Pinots are generally fantastic and have attributes in common -- they have layers of flavor and subtle elegance, are earthy and spicy, and are definitively not fruit bombs. My problem with California producers is that they seem to apply the same excitement to Pinot that they do to Zinfandel or Cabernet -- trying to attain the fruitiest, boldest, ripest grapes to go into the wine. Where's the nuance? Certainly there are exceptions, but given the choice, I don't order California Pinot unless I know the producer and know they have some restraint (Siduri, for instance).

So I was wary because I knew that Woodenhead was mainly a Pinot Noir shop (they do Zin as well, but Pinot is their flagship). But it took just one wine to allay my fears.

This little place is kind of secluded so I don't think I would have ever even thought to go there without a recommendation (as MC Ice will attest, I already think that everything is closed all the time -- even if it has lights on and an open sign lit up -- so knowing my own paranoia, I would be less likely to go, believing that the place would be snotty, or appointment only, or just plain closed). If you share this certain craziness of mine, consider this your invitation to go. It's open and the people there are so nice and accommodating.


Even better -- Woodenhead aspires to make Burgundy style wines with California fruit. They have been making wine for 12 vintages and they're all about sense of place, minimal human intervention, and releasing wines when they feel the juice is ready not when it makes sense from a $$$ perspective. With only 4000 cases to keep track of, they are fully able to live up to this promise. They kick ass. (BTW, don't get mad at me for reviewing an esoteric winery where you can't buy their wines from the store! They really don't sell anywhere except the tasting room but they have a sweet, no pressure wine club. You get 4 bottles twice a year at a 15% discount. Here's the link: Woodenhead Wine Club).

A few words on Woodenhead before I move on to the wines. I didn't meet Nikolai Stez, the winemaker, in person but his card said it all. After endless protest to Zina Bower (pictured above), his partner and the Marketing & Sales Director, about having a business card at all, which he thought was dumb, he consented on one condition: it could say whatever he wanted. She said yes and his card today has his name and the phrase "no bullshit." The guy worked for the very famous Pinot Noir shop, Williams-Selyem for 17 years and his current wines are amazing, so I think he has full license to write whatever he wants on his cards.

Plus, the phrase is an excellent description of Woodenhead's entire approach to wine. They don't mess around with substandard vineyards and in winemaking they do everything by hand -- from hand done punch downs (to continuously put the juice in contact with skins so it gathers color and flavor), to use of the very gentle basket press (left, the grapes are pressed very lighlty, which prevents harsh tannins from getting in the wine), to the employing French oak barrels to impart light, subtle flavors that don't overpower nature's best. No messing around, this is how winemaking is meant to be.

One final note. I can't stress enough the value of doing a tasting like the one we did at Woodenhead. As we all progress in our wine knowledge, the best thing we can do is to spend a little time with one grape and really see the importance of place in growing that grape. When you go to Napa or Sonoma, or if you can stage a tasting with friends, make an opportunity to taste Cab, Merlot, Chardonnay, etc from a few different places. You will be floored at how soil, climate, and vineyard site change the flavors so completely. Getting the chance to do this with a crazy grape like Pinot Noir, which is so influenced by site, is a learning experience you won't soon forget. Hopefully this review will help show that!

Ok, without further ado...to the wines:

2007 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir

Price: $42

Color: A pretty pale ruby color. Fairly light, so I expected a lighter style wine.

Smell: This was my kind of Pinot. It smelled classic -- slightly berry with lots of dirt. It was like dried earth with some bright raspberry and strawberry lingering in the background. It smelled unmanipulated and natural. I loved that.

Taste: Just as I suspected, this was a light and slightly fruity Pinot. It had some nice berry and sour cherry flavors with soft, mouth-drying tannins. It was very pleasant.

Drink or down the sink? Drink. Pinot should not be a ridiculous fruit bomb and I was happy to see a Pinot from the Russian River Valley that wasn't overly stylized or huge on fruit. This wine proves that restraint is possible. If you have the right approach, you know that just because you CAN do something with a wine (use overripe fruit) doesn't mean you should. Bravo.

______________________________________________________________________
2007 Russian River Valley, Buena Tierra Pinot Noir

The Buena Tierra (good earth) vineyard is planted with 30 year old vines. It won Charlie Palmer's (a famous restaurateur) Pig & Pinot Event this year, which is a really prestigious honor. It's clear why.
Price: $60

Color: The wine was darker than the previous one -- it was ruby and had pretty decent alcohol, judging from the legs slowly cascading down the glass (legs are an indication of alcohol. As alcohol and water separate, the water runs down quickly and whatever alcohol is left drips down -- quickly or slowly depending on the amount in the wine).

Smell: This was similar to the first wine, with dirt and raspberry and sour cherry aromas, but it was more intense. There were some nice mushroom and exotic spice notes too. It really smelled like it was from a vineyard -- a sensation I often don't get with Russian River Pinot Noir.

Taste: This was such a well composed package of flavors. The bright red fruit, the slightly sour cherry notes, and rich earth were a heavenly combination. There was a velvety texture and the wine was clean but complex and fruity. A delicious dried apricot and dried strawberry note on the finish made this wine such a standout.

Drink or down the sink? Drink. Again, this proves to me that California Pinot in the right hands can be wonderful. This wine embodies the "no bullshit" on Nikolai's card. An amazing Pinot Noir that was not all about the winemaker showing us all the tricks he could pull out. This was about the grape and making it shine. With that attitude California could do wonders with Pinot...too bad there's so much ego.

______________________________________________________________________
2007 Humboldt County Pinot Noir

If you didn't know this, Humboldt County is the marijuana capital of the US. The county is located way up north, where the redwood forest is located (and where MC Ice and I headed after our stint in wine country because it is gorgeous!). In homage to the County's most famed claim, the label is a color I would call Hemp Green. How fabulous is that? I love Woodenhead even more now!

Price: $42

Color: This wine was a saturated, rich ruby color. It looked like it would be a fruit bomb. I was concerned, but given the restraint of the other two wines, I had faith.

Smell: I have never smelled a Pinot like this. It had the telltale dust, dirt, cherry and raspberry smell but there was this insane crusty bread note -- certainly from winemaking, not from the vineyard. I liked it but didn't know how it would come together in the flavor. Bread is certainly something I would eat with Pinot Noir, but it's not something I would expect to smell except in Champagne (which is made from Pinot, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier, in case you didn't know that!). There is a winemaking process called sur lie, where the wine sits on dead yeast and picks up that bready flavor, but you don't see it a ton in Pinot, so I don't know where it came from. I just tasted the wine and stopped thinking about it!

Taste: If this is what a bready Pinot tastes like, give it to me all day long! This wine was insanely good. It had a chai tea and exotic spice flavor that was intense and complex. The sour cherry and raspberry flavors were a good vehicle for the cardamom and sweet baking spice flavors that made the wine rich. It was complex, yet had a silky texture. This was a stunning wine.

Drink or down the sink? Drink, if you want to see what Pinot is capable of and how it can vary based on where it is grown and how the winemaker approaches it, get this wine. It was absolutely amazing. I loved it. I genuinely believe that this type of wine can only be made from the vineyards from which Woodenhead got the grapes -- that, to me, is a real gem of a wine.

______________________________________________________________________
2007 Morning Dew Ranch Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley, Mendocino County

Price: $46

Color: Going back a step in color from the Humboldt County wine, this wine was a ruby color but lighter. Quality vineyards in Mendocino for Pinot are very cool, so the wine shouldn't have major color and I was glad to see that the "No BS" rule stuck here -- take what nature gives you and work with it.

Smell: Again, just completely distinct from the others in the line, this wine had a totally different smell. It smelled like Pinot -- sour cherry, raspberry, and dust but this one was more perfumed and floral. It also had a Syrah-like note -- something leathery and spicy that I hadn't noticed in any of the other wines. It was a bold aroma to be sure.

Taste: It was a fuller style Pinot -- much richer and less subtle than the others. That said, it didn't taste like Syrah so I was grateful for that! The fruit was bright -- it was more like maraschino cherries than raspberry and strawberry -- and it kind of overpowered the dirty, dusty flavors that I enjoyed so much in the other wines. This was slightly astringent, but well balanced.

Drink or down the sink? Drink. I liked this wine, but it was definitely my least favorite of the bunch. From any other producer, it would be great, but given what I'd already tried, the bar had been raised and this was just good, not terrific. It can't all be roses and sunshine, right?

______________________________________________________________________
2003 and 2006 Wiley Vineyard Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley, Mendocino County

It was our lucky day. After such an extraordinary lineup, Zina told us that they happened to have a bottle of the 2003 Wiley Vineyard Pinot open and asked if we'd like to try it up against the '06. I wasn't going to turn down that opportunity.

'03 Price: $100+ (sorry forgot to jot this down!)
'06 Price: $60

'03 Color: Despite it's 7 years of age, the wine was still a dark ruby color. It had lost none of it's umph.
'06 Color: Same color as the '03 -- the wine was a crimson color and it had thick legs (it was 14.7% alcohol, so this is not a surprise).

'03 Smell: This wine had such a mellow aroma. Savory herbs like thyme and rosemary, dark violet flowers, and cinnamon spice overlaid a hint of red raspberry and strawberry.
'06 Smell: A sweet spice nose with a ton of ripe fruit and a tobacco, smoke essence that was from the oak barrels. The wine was clearly brighter in aroma and smelled younger and more exuberant.

'03 Taste: I felt like this was a textural wine before it was a fruity or spicy one. The wine had pretty good mouth-drying tannins but at the same time its overall impression was mouth-filling and velvety. I noticed the fruit, herbs, and flowers only after I thought about the texture. The flavors were mellow, like the nose -- red berry and sour cherry, violets, and a lavender essence were all noticeable.
'06 Taste: I think this wine needed a bit more time in the bottle. It was a little tight and tannic yet, and very smokey and fruity. It was robust but not nuance and could probably use another 2 years to age and reach its peak.

Drink or down the sink? Drink the '03 now -- it's ready to go and would be a great match with earthy foods (mushroom, game, root vegetables). What a great wine! Buy the '06 and sit on it for a few years -- it will be worth the wait if the '03 is any indicator!
__________________________________________________________________

Thanks to Zina and to Woodenhead for teaching me that, if you're choosy, great Pinot Noir is possible in California. I love these guys. What a gem!