Rochioli Pinot SVD-Live

WINE TALK
1

who has tasted the 2012’s and has any opinion on the various bottlings?
Here is the release letter…

We are pleased to announce the release of our single vineyard Pinot Noir wines. The 2012 vintage looks like another classic as we were blessed with a long cool growing season with little damaging weather and perfectly ripened fruit. Although considered a large crop, this vintage has produced an elegant, classic style of Pinot Noir with its Russian River character distinctly in place. We took great care in precise crop thinning and canopy management which allowed even ripening and very high quality fruit.

WHAT’S NEW

At the time of this writing, we have experienced great spring weather that was similar to last year, although California is experiencing a record drought. Here in our area, we received late rains that saturated the soil, so the vines are growing normally. We are also located in an area that is plentiful in ground water, so hopefully we will not see any extreme effects from this drought. The crop looks to be slightly above normal with a chance of an early harvest. With the cooperation of Mother Nature, we hope to receive another abundant crop of high quality fruit.

The new planting of the Big Hill is growing nicely. We picked a significant amount last year and as hoped, it is promising. It is a very dark and structured wine with huge potential as it matures. As we mentioned before, this could be the “grand cru” of the property. We hope to add it to our list of single vineyard wines. Only time will tell.

The new planting of West Block is destined for greatness and hopefully we will be able to blend small amounts into the single vineyard bottling. Right now, it is a significant portion of our Estate Pinot Noir. Also, the new planting of East Block should give us a substantial amount of fruit this year. The evaluations will continue.

There are 4 rows of Syrah planted on the west face of the Big Hill and we were able to make our first Syrah in 2012. This field was blended with our small block in front of our old barn. If you are a fan of Syrah, you will not be disappointed! It will be released this fall along with our Valdiguié .

We are working on our new website and it should be up in the next few months. This, along with Facebook and Twitter should get us into the 21st century. We hope you visit them and get an inside look at Rochioli. You may also order many of our Estate wines from the website.

And lastly, we would like to thank all of our loyal customers that have supported us throughout the years. Those of you that continue to enjoy all of our wines are assured that you will get the increasingly scarce single vineyard releases of Pinot Noir.

Rochioli Winery

2

Look, no one here cares about Rochioli. They are old school. They are expensive (they can cost as much as a middling 1er)!.

[And, IMO, they are among the world’s best expressions of Pinot Noir]

Going out for a big anniversary dinner with my wife tomorrow night. My wine of choice … Rochioli 2009 “Little Hill”, Russian River Valley.

3

thanks for posting as wondering the same. my allocation is up this go around. can get up to 2 cases.

4

They always drive me crazy with their allocation system. [scratch.gif] I didn’t get a letter yet this year. Curious what will happen…Need to call them up again. [help.gif]

Cheers!
Marshall [berserker.gif]

5

No letter yet, offer came via email.

6

This is my first Pinot release. Made the Reserve list this Spring.
Is East Block not being offered as it was replanted, or is there a 2 stage allocation system?

7

Anyone have a spare bottle(s) to share? Would love to try one of their svd bottlings.

8

East Block was replanted and hasn’t been offered in at least a few years. Sounds like this might be the last offering of West Block for a while.

9

I have clearly fallen off this list, no clue why either.

10

That’s what I’m thinking. Had to grab one. At $108, the most expensive California Pinot I’ve ever purchased. But I’m not complaining. These can be out of this world.

11

Same here. Log in to my account and have zero allocation.

12

I am sure I can spare a few bottles
Preference to ones who can tell me why I was dropped of the Marcassin list after buying my full allocations for 3-4 years :slight_smile:

13

Me three. Logged in, no offer.

This comes after I sent an email last month asking when the offer would be out, and asking if I was getting an allocation (they said yes). Perhaps something is forthcoming, but this comes after I’d been removed from the List twice – even after making purchases-- and being “reinstated” after calling and asking, and after being on the wait list 7 and 1/2 years.

I was not under the impression that yields were especially low in 2012.

If there’s no offer, I think it’s just time to look elsewhere. We’ll see.

14

Me four. Logged in, no offer.

Too bad because I would have bought. I love this wine. May inquire and find out what’s going on.

15

What are the offers btw? And how much?

16

2012 Little Hill Pinot Noir $74.00
2012 River Block Pinot Noir $84.00
2012 Sweetwater Pinot Noir$74.00
2012 Three Corner Pinot Noir $84.00
2012 West Block Pinot Noir$108.00

17

For some reason they bumped up the usual allocations by about 2x (i.e. mine and apparently Trent’s) but others seem to be expecting allocations and don’t see any.

Assuming they made the same approximate amount of wine as in years past there’s no obvious explanation.

(BTW, often the 3 Corner is the sleeper.)

18

FWIW I looked and bought six bottles of 2011 SV PN from Rochioli.

19

You (and Trent) might have been bumped up to Tier 1. If so, that would explain your increased allocation…and the fact that you’re able to order and others can’t.

2012 was a bit crop year, which might be a factor.

And I agree about the 3 Corner being under appreciated.

I have some 03s/04s/05s in the cellar…should open one!


I agree that their allocation system is confounding…esp wrt ordering what appears to be the ‘right thing’, and getting penalized the next year. They do have a complex allocation problem tho, and I wasn’t able to buy everything allocated to me, so mostly my fault I’m sure.

20

Good living?