Just checking whether anyone is buying Occidental 2020’s? River-Marie sold off in bulk all there wine from adjacent vineyards to Occidental. They said they were not happy with wine after in tank. What’s your take?
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I will be buying
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I’m in - I trust
Will,
Any reason why it was sold off then?
Cheers
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It seems worth it to give it a go, the newsletter is live on the member site and I think they are happy with results. Early tasting of some other west Sonoma ‘20s like Ceritas keeps me hopeful.
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Occidental didn’t bulk their 2020s out, Rivers-Marie did. Rivers-Marie explained “harvested most everything in 2020 but quickly realized as we began tasting that red wines really suffered from the smoke impact of the mid-August fires. We did notice varying levels that in the end are linked to proximity to the actual fires, picking date and vineyard elevation. Those factors saved Bearwallow for instance, making it our one red wine from the vintage. The northern most Sonoma Coast plus Anderson Valley appear to be spared in 2020 from real smoke damage. Everything we brought in from Occidental/Freestone showed poorly at pressing so we quickly bulked out anonymous lots of Sonoma Coast as soon as the wines finished malo.”
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I never said Occidental did that. I said Rivers-Marie did. 
I tasted the 2019s and was quite impressed, however I am too worried about 2020 especially after reading this from WA on Hirsch which is located reasonably close:
In 2020, Hirsch decided to pick everything after experiencing previous wildfires in 2008, the same year Jasmine started working at the property. “You could smell the smoke coming off the grapes on the sorting table,” she recalled. “But we also learned that you can’t under-extract. If you’re going to make the wines, make them as closely as you can to how you usually do.” In 2020, grapes were treated the same, with the exception of de-stemming the Pinot Noir and discarding press wine. “We made half our wines, which is better than zero,” Jasmine said, gratefully. "
I will skip this vintage.
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I tasted the 20s from bottle at the winery in June. They were lovely and fans of the style will be pleased, assuming no smoke issues develop over time in the bottle. Catherine was not concerned about smoke taint.
They do pick early (mid-August to early Sept) and are located about as far south and west as you get on the true Sonoma Coast. I would think the coastal winds were their friend too. Time will tell, but I’m buying based on what I tasted and my faith in the team.
On the flip side, I know Littorai didn’t release any 20s from their sites close to Occidental (Thieriot and Haven). Maybe Ted generally picks later than Occidental, can’t recall. I certainly understand the apprehension expressed by many.
Only tangentially related, but few Napa producers released 2020s, but I tasted 2020s at Myriad/Quivet and we detected no flaws and the wines were almost all just a good as they normally are. We even bought several of the 2020s we tasted. Just because one producer gets subpar grapes or has a very low risk tolerence doesn’t mean no one in the area can make good wines.
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If they were trying to avoid the subject of the fires, excluding any discussion completely in their release letter does not do the trick.
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I noticed the same thing in reading their letter. In fact, read it twice just to make sure I didn’t miss it. I’ll buy based on trust, but not addressing the elephant in the room does give me pause.
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Had a glass of the 2020 Freestone-Occidental at Truss a couple months ago and thought it was excellent. Nice blend of red and black fruit and some of that Burgundy forest floor notes. No smoke taint
passing this vintage, the omission of anything about the fires in the prerelease email is concerning, but not the only reason I’m passing - just doesn’t seem worth the risk.
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I’ll be buying as well. I did a tasting there a few months ago of the 2020s - the Elizabeth, Catherine and Occidental Station - and they were all great.
Having said that, I found it odd as well that nothing was mentioned in the newsletter. I don’t recall any other Sonoma or Napa producers that made a 2020 not addressing it.
Edit: I just reread the email again. I wonder if the following statement is implying the rationale: “Nearly each afternoon, strong onshore winds rush through the Estero Americano corridor and buffet the ridge with their full force. This was our saving grace in 2020.” They are far enough south where this could makes sense but the fact that the neighboring R-M sites were sold off suggests otherwise. My hunch is that TRB’s winemaking style is different enough to matter. Regardless, I was more than happy with the end product and looking forward to my allocation.
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The WA Erin Brooks reviewed the 2019 Occidental Pinots and also has a paragraph on the 2020 Pinots that address smoke in the July 2022 Week 2 ( July 14, 2022) article.
Erin wrote "In 2020, Occidental bottled all five of their single-vineyard wines. In this marginal climate, harvest is significantly earlier than in warmer areas of Sonoma County. “Our first day of harvest was scheduled for the first day of the fires on August 18,” Steve remembered. “The summer was so warm and dry anyway, and the berries so small, we were already getting ready to pick. Our yields are under two tons per acre, and we pick so much earlier than most. For the next couple of weeks, we picked everything from both our properties. Everyone was at the mercy of the wind patterns, whether or not the smoke stagnated, how high the smoke was, etc. And if the fruit wasn’t ripe enough or if you had to wait to pick, it wouldn’t have worked. Our saving grace was that we had reached the edge of ripeness, and the wind patterns were in our favor. We didn’t change a single thing in the winery—it was either going to work or not. They were going to be Occidental wines or nothing at all.”
***Not sure the rules on quotes from wine publications but ill remove it if its not appropriate to post
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I didn’t know about this review. That’s good news! I’ll probably by less than I did last year though.
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Order in on the Occidentals. We are always excited to drink these.
To “prepare” my wife and had a 2015 SWK this weekend, which was amazing. Soft and subtle tannins, with beautiful red fruits (raspberry especially).
I am in for a case, heavy on the SWK and Catherine.
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same here, went a bit deeper though…really liked the Bodega Ridge at our tasting so added those too
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I got only six bottles. Being cautious.