I feel like someone here may have a good sense of this: if you were going to line up the Littorai Cerise, Mays Canyon, Pivot, and Haven Pinot Noir bottlings across multiple vintages, in what order would you taste the single vineyards? Saying I wanted to keep the order consistent across a number of vintages, what would your order be? I have tried different searches on this point, and haven’t come back with much. I reached out to the winery and didn’t hear back. My working order at the moment is Cerise first, Mays Canon second, Pivot, and then Haven. It makes senses to me to keep the Cerise to one side, either first or last, as the sole Anderson Valley representative. I think maybe Pivot before Haven. But where does the Mays Canyon go? Before the Pivot?
If you were to do a lineup of Platt and Pivot across vintages, which would you taste first between those two?
I would appreciate it if someone might lend their insight here. Thanks.
Hi @Levi_Dalton the vintage variation does matter a bit, but generally I’d do Mays, (Pivot), Haven, Cerise in that order. Why? I’ve found Mays to generally be the lightest/least intense of the these. Haven has varied a lot over the years, but I think of Cerise as a deeper, darker, earthier wine. I’m sorry to say that I’m not exactly sure about Pivot. Looking through CT I don’t think I’ve ever bought a bottle of this. Very odd, as I’ve bought a dozen+ cases of Littorai and opened many back to the early 2000s, and assumed I’d tried everything they have to offer.
Platt I’d do closer to the Haven/Cerise end of things. But I’ve only had a couple of vintages of that one.
The vintages go back to 2003 in white and 2009 in red. It is the aforementioned cross section of Pinot Noir vineyards in 2016, 2015, and 2014, then 2013 and 2009 for the Platt and Pivot side by sides. The Mays Canyon Chardonnay vertical runs 2003 to 2017.
With those vineyards I could do the same lineup of vineyards consistently across the same vintages. With other vineyards I would have been going in and out of certain vintages. By which I mean, I made a grouping from what was available.
I want to keep a consistent vineyard tasting order across the vintage flights, because I think that is more comprehensible for the group. If I start moving around vineyards within the flights, it will be too easy to lose the through lines. Typically I find that wineries have an order that they usually pour in. Which is why I reached out to Littorai about it. But I am not aware of what the order is here. Nor does it seem like information that is readily available with an internet search.
Sounds really interesting. Yes, the order and structure of the tasting makes a lot of sense. I didn’t understand that the Mays were the chards - I’m curious if the older vintages you have to sample will hold up. I’ve only ever had their Pinots with anything like that much age (and they were lovely).
Mays Canyon will be in both colors at the dinner. We have the flight of Chardonnay at the start and then Mays as part of the 2016, 2015, and 2014 Pinot Noir flights.
I had a bottle of 2009 Pivot Pinot Noir recently and it was good. Still holding in. How the 2003 Mays Canyon Chardonnay shows at the dinner is an open question. My fingers are crossed.
I tasted 2012 and 2013 in May. Haven was a bit darker, richer and most complex. The cerise was lighter and a bit more simple. Did not taste pivot or Mays.
It’ll be vintage dependent to a degree, but Mays/Pivot (in whatever order) would best precede Cerise/Haven. Haven is often about as masculine a wine as Littorai makes, so I’d be inclined to serve that last.
As for Platt, it’s been some years since they’ve used that vineyard source but serving it side by side with a Pivot seems a good call.