Through a friend of mine who works at the winery I was able to check out the new 2009s. I did not take any formal notes but we had both the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the Sonoma Coast bottlings which were lovely, bright, fragrant, and very plesent in the mouth. The acidity from the Pinot Noir was mouth watering but was a little short on the finish and the mid-pallate fully no there, probally less free-run. Also keep in mind its a young wine. The single vineyard Pinot we had was more dense becuase of less pressed juice I assume. It also seemed to have more whole cluster which help this wine fill out more than the SC. I couldn’t belive how delicious and easy this wine is to drink in its youth.
Both the Sonoma Coast and the Camp Meeting Ridge Chardonnays were vibrant, but not overly acidic as many “True Coast” Chards can be, especially in youth. Both show restrained oak. While I am sure there is partial to full Malo because of the softer than norm SC acidity, the ML does not show itself as a butter bomb at all. So if you are looking for Cougar Juice this is not a wine for you. The Camp Meeting Ridge showed more concentrated and weighty with a honeyed character, botrytis?
Overall the wines were great. I liked the line up much better than the 2007s, 2006s, and the wines before that. I found all of the wines pleasant in youth (note that the wines were opened the day before, about a quarter of each consumed, gassed, and consumed the following night at my place) and believe them especially the single vineyards to be age-worthy. I have had the chance to taste many 2009s and think these wines are all bringing their “A game”. Now that Flowers is under new ownership some changes in production and farming were made. Getting certified BioDynamic, less oak, more balance, less inputs in the winery, less new oak, more whole cluster, altogether they are going for a model in which most of the work is done in the vineyards so there are little to no mistakes which need to be corrected in the winery.
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