Beckon Bien Nacido Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016

This is Fetzer’s project in the Central Coast, and the second vintage in a row in which Robert Blue turned out an exceptional pinot from Bien Nacido. It’s an immediate hit of bright red fruit and stemmy peppercorn spice, then it lasts with quiet persistence, lively and substantial in its blood-orange acidity and roseate tannins. Those tannins have a sandy feel, coastal and fresh.

Dried red cherry, wild thyme, sagebrush and an underlying hint of game show on the nose of this bottling from a vineyard first planted more than four decades ago. The palate is herbaceous at first before delivering flavors of roast pork in a mulberry-thyme sauce.