From the site (described in Issue 202) that for me was 2010’s star, Bergstrom’s 2011 Pinot Noir Gregory Ranch Vineyard lives up to both the memorable quality of that predecessor and to my memories of its performance from barrel in June, 2012. (Surely it was with hindsight a mistake for its author to have set its price so much lower than that of other Pinots in his portfolio; but it was until recently untested terroir.) Tamarind; black pepper; pungently smoky Latakia tobacco and Lapsang tea; sassafras and penetrating grapefruit rind, all inflect fresh dark berry fruit, underlain by a savory, marrow-rich evocation of meat stock. The inner-mouth aromas here shade toward secondary, high-toned suggestions of old aromatic woods and berry distillates, but these remain within a more than acceptable range of volatility. Well-integrated, fine tannins and a terrifically persistent, gripping, vibrant and mouthwatering finish encourage me in the belief that this is going to go from strength to strength in the next several years and be worth following through at least 2022. (The 2010 continues to impress as it had last year.) - David Schildknecth

A perfumed and much more expressive nose exhibits excellent complexity and breadth with its range of plum, floral, spice and dark pinot fruit aromas. Here too there is good volume to the delicious, intense and well-delineated middle weight flavors that possess good punch on the softly saline-inflected, clean and dry finish. The finish is not as complex as the nose yet the underlying material appears to be present to allow more to develop in bottle and my scores gives the benefit of the doubt in this regard.