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124 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 liantly transparent 2015 LIOCO Savaria Vineyard Pinot Noir's titillating herby- spiced fruit, at just 12.2% alcohol. Study of Pinot Noir Clones. At Lester Family Vineyards—a Corralitos planting also farmed by Foxx Viticulture and sourced by up to nine producers each year—Foxx led a seminar on Pinot Noir clones with 2016 bar - rel samples presented by Big Basin's Bradley Brown, Rexford Winery's father/son team of Joe and Sam Miller, and Sante Arcangeli's John Benedetti. "It's important to know that clones exist," said Foxx, "but site always trumps clone. The introduction of Dijon clones helped make Pinot Noir popular, but we look upon these as 'gateway' clones, producing accessible Pinots. As your palate becomes sophisticated, you tend to look more at the heritage clones [such as Mount Eden, Pommard, Swan and Martini], which produce deeper, more com - plex wines." Some highlights of the Pinot Noir clonal/ barrel tasting: Bradley Brown comparing three single- clone 2016s grown by Lester Family—a fragrant, sharp and linear Dijon 667 next to a higher-toned Mount Eden cuvée, followed by a deeper, more structured, herby-spice scented Swan clone. Joe and Sam Miller demonstrating the depth achieved by the use of heritage clones with three different field-crushed, co-fermented blends of 2016 Lester Pinot Noir : a fragrant, leafy, vibrantly acid-toned Dijon 667/115 contrasted by a more brooding, fleshier 667/115/Pommard and an even fuller, jammy blue–fruit scented Swan/777 cuvée. Benedetti demonstrating impact of site with two 100% Pommard clone bottlings from 2016: a ripe, juicy, soft, almost candied black cherry–toned Pommard bottling from Hall Vineyard, located on a warm, exposed, 2,000-foot site straddling the Summit and Skyline sub-regions, contrasted with a leaner, savory, floral/cherry- toned Pommard bottling from Split Rail Vineyard in the more coastal, cool climate-influenced Corralitos area. Finish at Alfaro Family Vineyards. Our second day ended with a fantastic farm-to- table dinner personally prepared by Alfaro Family Vineyards & Winery owners Richard and Mary Kay Alfaro at their home site, located in the southern end of Corallitos/ Pleasant Valley, a little more than four miles from Monterey Bay. The Alfaros farm five separate contiguous vineyards, largely on sandy loam slopes. Four standouts among the two dozen Alfaro-grown wines tasted: the wildflowery, honeyed, acid-charged 2016 Ryan Spencer Vineyard Albariño; the razor-edged, lean, flowery, lime- and pineapple-nuanced 2015 La Playita ("little beach") Grüner Veltliner ; a finely delineated, silk and rose petal– scented 2015 Mary Katherine Vineyard Pinot Noir ; and the irrepressibly lush, lively, drippy cherry–infused 2015 Alfaro Family Vineyard Pinot Noir. Day 3 Skyline Finale Rhys Vineyards. Our last day was spent in the Skyline sub-region at the north end of the appellation, dominated by high-ele - vation sites (700 to 2,400 feet) on both sides of the Skyline Boulevard (I-280) cor- ridor, running just east and parallel to the San Andreas Fault. At our first stop at Rhys Vineyards, winemaker Jeff Brinkman told us: "We started planting along Skyline Boulevard in 1995 because this is where you find the Pacific and North American tectonic plate turned up and laterally exposed, with millions of years of geology giving us the favorable soils for grapes like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay." Few wineries go as far as Rhys to achieve Pinot perfection: Starting with exclusively estate-grown, small-vine, high- density (as tight as 2'x3') hillside plantings (five sites total) of heritage or suitcase clones (no Dijon selections for Rhys), plus organic farming, customized two-ton, temperature-controlled wood fermen - ters, evolution toward massale picking and foot-treaded whole cluster-fermentation, and strictly four-year air-dried François Frères barrels housed in caves dug into their Skyline Boulevard home site. The 2014 Alpine Vineyard Pinot Noir—from a shallow, rocky 1,200- to 1,490-foot site—seemed to epitomize the high flying intensity and cohesion of all the Rhys Pinot Noirs, with its billow - ing fragrance, coffee spice, penetrating citrus and meaty texturing. Commented Brinkman, "We always find a pine resin marker unique to our Alpine Pinots; and a mix of red and black fruit with saline, chalky characteristics, which get more floral and spicy as the wine ages." That said, Brinkman poured a ravishingly lush, smoky-spiced 2006 Rhys Skyline Vineyard Pinot Noir, beamed up by almost ethere - ally light, pinpoint qualities. Minde go Ridge Vineyard. Following our visit to Rhys, we caravanned on winding, narrow roads through canyons of tower - ing redwood, madrone and buckeye to reach Mindego Ridge Vineyard—Pinot Noir and Chardonnay planted on south- facing slopes topping 950 feet, strongly Alfaro Family Vineyards 2016 Albariño sits on the vineyard's sandy loam soil.