2017 Docker Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir 1.5L

As anyone who knows Dutton-Goldfield knows, we love out-there vineyards. Sites outside the norm almost always mean both the fruit and the grower have personalities we want to get to know. So, when a friend told us about Docker Hill Vineyard, a site on a mountain above Comptche, southeast of the town of Mendocino, we had to check it out. The owners, Massachusetts hardware store moguls Bill and Karson Aubuchon, planted the vineyard in 2010 to an assortment of Dijon and Heritage clones. For our inaugural bottling, we received fruit from the 828, Swan and Pommard blocks. The vineyard sits at about 1,000 feet, keeping it generally above the fog line. The elevation gives the vineyard a longer, warmer day than its neighbors to the west or at lower elevations, but significantly cooler than the Sonoma Coast. This climate provides us a wine with a weighty body, full of richness, yet still fine—Dan thinks of the character of this wine as combining the silkiness of Green Valley with the heft of the Sonoma Coast.