Each week I pick out one wine to highlight as my wine of the week. This wine may be an outstanding wine, a great value or just something very interesting.

Overview

This wine was from my first purchase from Underground Cellar. If you’re not familiar with them, I recommend checking them out. The unique feature of the company can be summed up in two words, “free upgrade”. In this case I ordered 6 bottles of the generic 2012 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. After subtracting a credit on my account, my final price was only $28.17 a bottle. After completing the purchase I was notified five of my six bottles were upgraded to the winery’s single vineyard offerings. Three of the upgraded wines were this one and the two others were upgraded to the Sangiacomo Vineyard wine. If you aren’t familiar with the winery and their wines, I should point out the single vineyard wines are usually considerably more expensive. On Cellar Tracker, this wine has a community average cost of close to $50.

For more information on Underground Cellar, please click here.

The Winery

Sojourn Cellars began in 2001 as a collaboration between two tennis buddies who discovered a mutual passion for great wine and the things that tend to go with it – good food and good company. Utilizing Erich’s experience as an Assistant Winemaker at Arrowood Winery, Craig Haserot and Erich Bradley developed a plan to produce distinctive Pinot noir wines complemented by small bottlings of Cabernet Sauvignon from extraordinary vineyard sources. Over the next 10 years, they worked together to develop their shared love of fine wine into a winery that has established a consistent track record of producing highly rated wines under the Sojourn brand. Today, what began as their own personal journey into the world of winemaking has evolved into a first-class boutique winery committed to creating high-quality artisan wines for people who know and appreciate them.

More information about the winery and their wines is available by clicking here.

2012 Sojourn Pinot Noir Rodgers Creek Vineyard Sonoma Coast – SRP $48

Rodgers Creek Vineyard sits high on a ridge in the heart of the cool Petaluma Gap. The vineyard takes the brunt of the wind and thick fog that define this cool climate zone. The vines are grown in light, chalky soils on steep inclines. Two blocks of the Pommard Pinot Noir clone form the foundation of this wine, 15% of which was fermented whole-cluster, contributing verve and depth. Clone 777 is blended in, adding a layer of bright red fruit to rich spices and dark cherry flavors.

After open-top fermentation using native yeast, this 100% Pinot Noir was aged in French oak barrels, 50% of which were new. The wine was bottles unfined and unfiltered in September 2013.

This wine has 14.2% alcohol by volume and the bottle is sealed with a natural cork. There were 725 cases produced.

My Tasting Note

The wine is a bright cherry red to ruby color. The spellbinding nose has cherries, warm baking spices, strawberries, minerals, white pepper, dried flowers and a touch of earthy underbrush. This is barely medium body with silky tannins and very good acidity. On the palate the spices and cherries jump out first with minerals and strawberries coming in on the back end. The finish has outstanding length with white pepper and some earthiness entering the picture. This is extremely young but already outstanding. This is perfectly balanced and carries no excess weight. With a lot of upside potential, this could be mythical in a few years. Load up if you can find this and can afford a big purchase. (94 pts)

2012 Sojourn Pinot Noir Rodgers Creek Vineyard Sonoma Coast

Connect with me

You can follow me on Twitter for more wine info, potential food pairings, and an occasional recipe or two. Be warned, I’m also a sports fan and there are occasional Pittsburgh Penguins, Steelers, and Pirates tweets. I attended the University of South Carolina, so during football season, there will also be some Gamecock posts.

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Cheers!

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOvQTeGR3-c

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Notes – I use the “official” Cellar Tracker name for the wines. I use Cellar Tracker to help manage and organize my cellar. I highly recommend checking it out at www.cellartracker.com. Loading you existing cellar is a lot less intimidating than it would first appear. There is a good chance 99% of your wine is already in the system, so you generally only need to enter part of the wine’s name and the system will find it for you.

Prices noted are the prices I paid at the time of purchase. I don’t shop around to find the best prices, but my local store is usually VERY competitive. I generally get case discounts, and since I work there part time, I get a 5% discount. Wines purchased direct from a winery do not include any shipping charges. None of the prices include the sales tax.

All wines that were sent to me free of charge to sample will be noted and I will show suggested prices when available.