4 bottles per lot
Details
MARCASSIN
A quest was born for the quintessential California interpretation of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir when Helen Turley and John Wetlaufer tasted a rather minor California Pinot at pig roast in the early 1980s. They found their ideal vineyard on the rugged Sonoma Coast and christened it Marcassin, French for young wild boar. Appropriately, the wines are robust, vibrant and at times heady. Unfined and unfiltered, their cloudiness can off-put the novice and sur-maturite ripeness offend the strict traditionalist. Surely they are not Montrachets or Chambertins(such comparisons maybe sensational but hardly useful), but an exciting new class of wines to follow, collect and most importantly drink. The emphasis here is planting high density vineyards with low yields, strict selection, maximum hang time and ferment this pure fruit with natural yeasts. Each of the single vineyard wines is vinified in essentially the same manner so the differences that show through are from terroir: the figgy, luscious Upper Barn, the acidic verve and tropical tea notes of Hudson's E-Block, rich sun-soaked pears of Lorenzo, Three Sisters' honeyed hazelnuts, and more mineral marmalade and piercing Marcassin itself. The estate Pinot bursts with blackberries and leathery sage while the Blue-Slide Ridge leans toward length with liquefied minerals and blueberries.
JC
Marcassin, Gauer Vineyard, Upper Barn Chardonnay--Vintage 1991
Alexander Valley
4 bottles per lot
A quest was born for the quintessential California interpretation of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir when Helen Turley and John Wetlaufer tasted a rather minor California Pinot at pig roast in the early 1980s. They found their ideal vineyard on the rugged Sonoma Coast and christened it Marcassin, French for young wild boar. Appropriately, the wines are robust, vibrant and at times heady. Unfined and unfiltered, their cloudiness can off-put the novice and sur-maturite ripeness offend the strict traditionalist. Surely they are not Montrachets or Chambertins(such comparisons maybe sensational but hardly useful), but an exciting new class of wines to follow, collect and most importantly drink. The emphasis here is planting high density vineyards with low yields, strict selection, maximum hang time and ferment this pure fruit with natural yeasts. Each of the single vineyard wines is vinified in essentially the same manner so the differences that show through are from terroir: the figgy, luscious Upper Barn, the acidic verve and tropical tea notes of Hudson's E-Block, rich sun-soaked pears of Lorenzo, Three Sisters' honeyed hazelnuts, and more mineral marmalade and piercing Marcassin itself. The estate Pinot bursts with blackberries and leathery sage while the Blue-Slide Ridge leans toward length with liquefied minerals and blueberries.
JC
Marcassin, Gauer Vineyard, Upper Barn Chardonnay--Vintage 1991
Alexander Valley
4 bottles per lot
Special notice
From time to time, Christie's may offer a lot which it owns in whole or in part. This is such a lot.