Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/637107
{ SOMMjournal.com } 81 THE BLAIR "CONE" Next up we visited a true micro-sized climat, Blair Estate: 7.5 acres of mostly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, located along the westernmost edge of the AVA in what grower/ owner Jeffrey Blair calls the "Arroyo Seco cone." Explained Blair, "You'll notice that my vines are still hanging fruit, whereas all the other vineyards in the area have long been picked. We're always the last to go in the valley because we're sitting in a cone—the narrowest part of the Salinas Valley, where the wind blowing in from Monterey Bay comes in at its highest velocity. "Consequently our Pinot Noir takes longer to ripen. It has brighter cherry notes than other Arroyo Seco Pinots, and is more delicate and well-heeled." The terroir-driven qualities of Blair's estate were immediately apparent in a field tasting of the Blair 2014 Rosé of Pinot Noir: bone dry, sharply chiseled red berry fruit tinged with faintly dusty, loamy notes. "You might think this is a saignée because it's such a dense rosé," Blair told us. "But it isn't—it's picked early for rosé, destemmed, fermented on skins for a few hours and neutral French barrel–aged. It's very subliminal, not obvious—it has a strong grip but is very delicate, a pretty perfume with a rugged, earthy quality." Blair and his winemaker, David Coventry, followed up with a taste of the Blair 2013 Delfina's Vineyard Chardonnay, couched in wild sage-like, flowery, almost violet-like perfumes; tight, zippy and densely phenolic in the feel. "This wine bears the firm hand of my maternal grand - mother, Delfina," says Blair, "the one who kept me from ending up either in prison or dead." A vertical of the Blair 2012, 2013 and 2014 Delfina's Vineyard Pinot Noir demonstrated a consistency of red, floral perfumes with pervasive, dusty sagebrush or alfalfa-like scrubbiness, and a silky, savory, tart edged delicacy. Said Coventry: "I like to think of the Blair Pinots as having an Old World nimbleness with that fragrant, earthy Arroyo Seco fruit profile. The paradigm of Pinot Noir is that it should always be about elegance, and preferably about ter - roir—you find all of that here." the river rocks in Arroyo Seco soil, which add an integrated minerality. Arroyo Seco Sauvignon Blanc is also different—more of everything . . . fig, gooseberry, white and pink grapefruit, Key lime and honeysuckle, with surprisingly rich textures." In our first "spice rack" tasting, Meier and Barnhisel blind-tasted us on six 2015 Pinot Blancs, fermented in neutral French oak (6th year), new French oak, 2nd year French oak, neutral Hungarian oak puncheon (4th year), new acacia oak puncheon and flexcube (permeable poly - mer squares). It was like winemakers as professional studio sound mixers: tuning up or tuning down variations of citrus vs. tropical fruit, creamy vs. sharper acid tex- tures, mineral vs. floral notes, and more. In the second blind tasting, the somme- liers were presented with six lots of 2015 Chardonnay from the same block, planted to clone FPS 17 (aka Robert Young), fer- mented with six different yeasts, including one native yeast lot. We learned that clas- sic Saccharomyces like Prise de Mousse and Montrachet produce Chardonnays with opulent tropical fruit and citrusy, sometimes austere, freshness; whereas slower-working native yeast fermentations often yield softer, rounder Chardonnays (occasionally with unfermented residual sugar), and Saccharomyces bayanus such as B0213 can produce lush Chardonnays with more emphasis on meaty, fleshy texturing than citrusy edges. So many possibilities to contemplate over a savory paella lunch with Lawrence and Cynthia Lohr, son and daughter of founder Jerry Lohr, at their new winery facility! A Pinot Noir cluster at Blair Estate. Jeffrey Blair (left) talks Pinot Noir with Woody Van Horn, Sur Lucero MS and Rachel Macalisang.