Over the weekend, Traci and I were up in Anderson Valley to pick up some wine from Breggo - if you haven’t checked them out, please do - and used the time to hit a couple of spots. We started our day at Navarro and asked who else we should visit in the area…that inquiry led to TOULOUSE WINERY, where we drank some delicious wines (more on that later)…when playing with the dogs at Toulouse, we met the owner of Phillips Hill Winery and decided to stop by and check his wines out before heading over to Breggo…and what a find it was…
We popped into the tasting room and were greeted by owner Toby Hill (IIRC), and poured the 06 Oppenlander Vyd and 07 Oppenlander Vyd Pinot Noirs along with the 07 Toulouse Vyd, 07 Corby Vyd and 07 Marguerite Vyd Pinots…all terrific and fairly priced. My brief notes on the wines:
The 06 Oppenlander Vyd was drinking extremely well with juicy acidity, minerality, red and black fruit, earth, and a pleasing herbaciousness…the vineyard is in the Comptche Ridge area for you fans of Anthill Farms…the 07 was a little tighter and a little more structured but similar…the 06 is one for drinking now while cellaring the 07 for about 3-5 years.
We moved on to the 07 Toulouse and 07 Corby…both tightly structured with red fruits - cranberry/cherry, minerality in spades…the Toulouse shows more anise seed/licorice than the Corby but the Corby has a defined black cherry, roundness that makes for great drinking now.
Finally, one of my favorites of the whole weekend for its uniqueness…the 07 Marguerite Vyd Pinot…wow…earthy, leather, mushroom compote, red fruits, some bitter root…it’s rich and light at the same time, very complex…not Burgundian but not really CA either…just uniquely SUPERB!!!..
We bought some bottles and definitely look forward to following this producer…
To summarize, the wines are rich but deftly balanced and very Pinot in quality…keep an eye for these guys!!