Assuming that Martin Ray was indeed one of the first CA pioneers to “get pinot correctly”, does the contemporary company that bears his name still get it right? I see that they have an offering up on casemates now.
The Martin Ray website has some nice pictures from the old days and some good info.
I visited their winery four or five years ago and the wines were fine and dandy.
I like the idea of Calera but always felt their wines were planted too far inland and in a place that simply gets too hot and dry where they are.
Born on the wrong coast to follow many of the first starters from California, but always thought the early Williams & Selyem wines were very interesting.
Remember buying around 50 half bottles of the 1968 for $2 per! (circa late 70s)
A lot of good drinkin’ for a couple of years…
TTT
+1 Carneros Creek. While I wouldn’t say their 70’s PN were “correct” (does that mean could be used as Burgundy ringers?) They were among the first to strive to let the grape express itself in their terrior, leading others to begin to treat the grape with “respect”.
Nothing better than 78 Chalone in terms of Pinot Noir-ness for many years after IMHO.
I am 82 years old. I have been drinking California pinot for over 50 years. The BV and Martin Ray were very good, the HMR very good. The first great pinot made in California was William Selyem.
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This is the correct answer. They have yet to be surpassed in my opinion.
1978, 1980 Chalone and 1980 Reserve were the best three wines I have had from two vintages close together and from one winery. I had three of the 1980’s 15-20 years ago.
In the cellar there is a prefect provenance 1974 Hanzell from the Davis Cellar See Fu’s review on CT.
I was instructed to have athe1978 Kalin Sonoma Cty with a good smoked duck and get back to him which I will shortly.
I am not so sure of my 1968 BV Special Burgundy, a blend.
The 1985 Williams Selyem Rochioli filled my dining room with roses and tea about 30 years ago. Stunner. I got on the list.
1978, 1980 Chalone and 1980 Reserve were the best three Pinot Noirs I have had from two vintages close together and from one winery. I had three of the 1980’s 20 years ago.
In the cellar there is a prefect provenance 1974 Hanzell from the Davis Cellar See Fu’s review on CT.
I was instructed to have the 1978 Kalin Sonoma Cty with a good smoked duck and get back to him which I will shortly. It is another gem from the Davis Cellar.
The 1985 Williams Selyem Rochioli filled my dining room with roses and tea about 30 years ago. Stunner. I got on the list.
I totally agree. And would add Martin Ray, Hanzell and Mount Eden. David Bruce’s early Pinot Noirs were big eye openers for me.
Speaking of Wms Selyem, I attended a tasting in Burgundy around 2016 with Burt Williams and others. Raj Parr had arranged a shipment of various magnums of older WS wines from Burt’s cellar. The '85 Rochioli blew the doors off. I believe the Burghound published notes on the tasting.
David Bruce!! Now there is a forgotten story. He did some brilliant things during the first fifteen years of its existence but what now?? They seem to change direction every ten years.
It seems to me that Au Bon Climat—with whom I was in business for many years–and WS might be the answers to the question, Whose American Pinot first rocked my world? But they are not the answers to the question at hand.
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DavidBruce is kaput as a serious wnry. He has serious Alzheimer’s issues. He has a wife more interested in her poodles than the wnry and driving it into the ground. The winemaker is gamely trying to keep it viable. The wines are not very exciting. It’s ripe for a buyout by K-J or RobertFoley.
Tom
Very fortunate to go through 2 cases of the '68 BV. I count myself fortunate to have had several bottles of the '68 BV between 2004-2010, all of which were spectacular. A '74 David Bruce pinot was also a revelation. Certainly what I think of in terms of early CA pinot, though realize that Joseph Swan was focusing on pinot in the 70s where the same couldn’t be said entirely for BV.
That’s Bill Foley…of NHL Golden Knights fame and fortune.
There are no great old wines, only great old bottles. And it’s correct that Martin Ray’s wines were variable. For one thing, he bottled in batches, so the same wine could see different elevage. But it’s not correct to say the wines were unsuccessful, much less uniformly weird or defective. Scott, you had bad luck or the bottles you tasted saw bad storage.
I’ve had upwards of 10 Pinots made by Martin Ray, all within the last 15 years, and about three quarters were very good and a few were remarkable. There were one or two over the hill or off. The 1958 and 1960 were stellar – with the 1958 drunk in 2018 to celebrate Eric Lundblad’s birthday. The earlier Ray wines were all bottled with a Champagne cork and closure – not just the sparkling wines, but also the Pinot, Chard, and Cab. It’s possible that may have contributed to their aging. I’m guessing these wines were pretty unforgiving in their youth. Martin Ray used redwood fermenters, and I’ve thought of these Pinots as akin to 1960s and 1970s Mayacamas Cabs. Not in flavors (other than the touch of redwood), but in personality. The 1947 Martin Ray Cab can also be a remarkable bottle, and the Chards from the 1950s are still drinkable and enjoyable to those who appreciate older whites.
Mastery is in the eye of the beholder, but Martin Ray made some incredible Pinot Noir in the 1950s and 1960s. Perhaps not every vintage, but that was true throughout the wine world at the time.
My understanding is that the Ray family sold “Martin Ray” as a brand some time after his death. I don’t believe there’s any connection between Ray’s descendants and the wine now marketed with his name as the brand.
Caldera and Chalone came to mind first but Martin Ray and Davis Bruce are good examples as well.
I’ve been fortunate to taste some 1980s Williams Selyem Pinot Noir, including wine made before they started using that name. Some of those wines can be great, even now. But they were not the first stellar California Pinot Noir. Dick Graff at Chalone made remarkable wines. 1974, 1978, 1980 Chalone can be wonderful even now, 40+ years after vintage. As I posted above, the same is true for some of Martin Ray’s Pinots. Mount Eden was finding its way in the 1970s, with winemaker turnover until Jeffrey Patterson arrived in the early 1980s. But Merry Edwards made a very good 1974 Mount Eden Pinot Noir. I don’t think I’ve tasted the 1973, but John Gilman has a very positive note on that wine. There were also very successful Joe Swan Pinots in the 1970s that can drink well today. Lastly, I’ve not been privileged to taste an Andre Tchelistcheff Beaulieu Pinot Noir, but I don’t doubt that there were very successful vintages. Too many folks with good, experienced palates have reported on them. I don’t have enough personal experience with Hanzell either. There may be others too.
As I recall the '73 Mt Eden was under rated by the winery, but we found that it just needed time to open up. Then it turned into a wonderful wine. The '74–at twice the price—had more body and color but not as much sexiness.
I never had the '46 BV Pinot but I had the '68 several times…a good wine but not that exciting.
Another way to look at it : if you wanted to buy Hanzell, Chalone, Swan etc you really had to be on their mailing list. Acacia was the first finely made pinot to be regularly available at your local wine shop.
I wish I had aged those single-vineyard Acacia wines a lot longer: St. Clair, Lee, Iund, Madonna and another I can’t recall.