I see the offer for the 2020 Rochioli single vineyard pinots goes out in a couple of weeks, and all the vineyards’ bottlings are being released. I notice that Antonio’s reviews were not stellar, and the wines were described as lighter, in some cases lean, and mostly for early drinking. There was no mention of smoke taint.
I am not sure what areas of the RRV were affected by the wildfires, whether the wines being “light” (the antithesis of Rochioli’s style) meant some treatment might have been done to lessen smoke taint, etc.
Anyone have any info on those wines or whether that area was hit hard?
I haven’t heard anything about their 2020 wines and possible effects of the smoke that year. I bought their 2020 Chardonnay single vineyard on the belief it’s picked earlier and not as much chance of smoke as other grapes. I have not seen AG’s scores on 2020. But, it is interesting that they have not put the 2020 scores on their website. They have scores from multiple reviewers on all their wines from 2012-2019. Maybe all reviewers for 2020 are not in yet? They actually showed all their scores in 2013 when they were relatively low compared to other vintages.
Fires/Smoke was an issue in RRV that year…not to the extent that it was in Napa or Oregon, but definitely an issue. Who was affected there in on a case by case basis (always the case with smoke taint tho). Not sure how things were on West Side Road that year. Rochioli is a top notch producer, so I’m sure the wines are fine wrt smoke taint.
Jeff Mangahas had a really detailed account of 2020 challenges from a Williams Selyem perspective in one of their webinars (recent Fall or Spring preview?). Probably insightful for Rochioli as well. Will try to look it up later.
i visited the winery in 2021 and it seemed unfazed. I’ll be for sure buying at least some Big Hill and IDGAF about a critic score. Their estate blend is typically rich and more full bodied and the single vineyars I’ve had (big hill, river block, sweetwater) were by no means “big”. I would have described them as lean-ish in my favorite vintages.
I’ve had the Rochioli Pinot Noirs since about 2000 and I would never call them lean. I really enjoy Big Hill (one of their newer), Sweetwater, West Block, and Three Corners. Never found a Little Hill that wowed me and River block was similar. Loved East Block until they had to replant, hoping it comes back.
The 2020 Chardonnay allocation was down significantly, not sure if the Pinot will be as well. While the Chardonnay would have been picked before the fires, was there any smoke issues with the Pinot?
Haven’t really read anything on either side for that.
Have read that some Russian River Pinots were smoke tainted. I would expect that Rochioli would not risk their reputation by releasing tainted wines.
I’ve been on the Rochioli list since the mid 90’s. Also live in the Bay Area. I can tell you that smoke was all over the place in 2020. Went to Rochioli this spring to taste wines rather than blanket reorder.
2021 Sauvignon Blanc was very good.
2020 Chard was better than I had anticipated, with no sign of smoke and great flavor.
2020 Estate Pinot - worst I’ve ever tasted from them. Weak, manipulated and muted.
I was very disappointed to see Rochioli push these wines on the market. Very risky in my opinion. Given my experience with the estate Pinot, I did not order any single vineyard Pinots. Caveat emptor.
Also visited Martinelli on my trip, as I’ve been on their list too since the mid nineties. They told me they will not be selling 2020 Pinots due to smoke taint. I give them credit for not risking their reputation, as taint may not be apparent upon initial release, but the wine still wasn’t up to the standards.
No idea if Rochioli was following these protocols but all the suggested wine making tactics to avoid smoke taint will create a lighter style red wine. They include shorter macérations, avoiding press wine (free run only), settling the wine before going into barrel and racking off the lees once in barrel (and of course avoiding battonage before you do). Juice fining is another recommended protocol, but that’s a huge logistics challenge that most wineries (I think) are not capable to pull off. Many wine makers will use more new oak than they are accustomed to compensate for the lower than normal levels of skin tannins and other phenolics.
One other factor that will contribute to a lighter style is the loss of heat units/photosynthesis. Not sure that was a huge factor in the RRV but it was in Oregon— we lost 10 days of sun in September, a critical period, and then cool, wet weather set in (and never left) starting mid September.
There should not be any issues with white wine regardless of smoke levels because there is limited skin contact. But again, we would want to pick a tad early (firmer berries), use smaller picking bins (if possible), go to press immediately, avoid hard press fractions, settle and rack the juice off the gross lees. There is less pressure to avoid lees in barrel to tanks, and battonage but perhaps some do this just to be safe(?).
Thank you, Kevin, for that info. I think that your experience with the Estate PN is telling. As I indicated earlier, I was surprised at AG’s tasting notes on Vinous. Although I don’t usually pay that much attention to his notes on CA PN, usually because he seems to enjoy Pinots of all styles, which unfortunately include wines that are overripe and higher in alcohol, it is nevertheless interesting that his notes on the Rochioli Single vineyard Pinots describe them as lighter, for early consumption, etc. That made me wonder if some winemaking techniques were used, as described in David Patte’s note above, to deal with smoke issues. From your description of the Estate, I too will be skipping the SV’s this vintage.
The Williams Selyem pre-release offer will drop soon, and I just rewatched the YouTube video linked above. According to the winemaker, they picked earlier than the fire started, did studies, didn’t harvest vineyards that were later ripening and thus affected, etc. I guess I need to decide soon whether to skip, buy a few, etc.
Anyone taste the 2020 WS wines at the winery?
This was my experience tasting the 2020 Estate Pinot as well. I thought I detected a bit of smoke, but chalked that up to the power of suggestion. But it was not a good rendition of the wine and I too passed on the single vineyards this vintage.
I emailed Rochioli, asked them when they picked and smoke taint, and got the following response:
Thank you for reaching out. We were fortunate that we did not experience smoke damage to our 2020 vintage. Majority of our grapes were already in for processing before smoke was an issue. In addition, grape samples as well as finished wine samples were sent in for testing and the results showed that the wines were well below the exposure limits. Our winemaker, Tom Rochioli and the various wineries we provide grapes to, tasted the wines regularly through the aging process as well. All with similar conclusions.
Hoping they are correct. They have a very long history that I don’t think they want to tarnish releasing less than correct wines. When my wines arrive, there will be a very angry email if the wines are less than usual.
fwiw, Spectator rated the regular RRV pinot at 94. I don’t know Molesworth, but that is in the top 10% and I’m pretty sure it was tasted blind. The accompanying text describes the opposite of thin/hollow/muted.