2015 Occidental - Bodega Headlands Cuvée Elizabeth Pinot

2015 Occidental - Bodega Headlands Cuvée Elizabeth Pinot Noir (91 pts) @occidentalwines · ℹ️ The Bodega Headlands vineyard was planted in 2001 on a ridge about 5 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Elevation ranges from 400-700 ft above sea level. The vineyard is broken up into 8 distinct blocks where each has a unique combination of sandstone and marine fossil rich soils. Each block is harvested and vinified separately with natural yeasts. Only free run juice is used as the winery intentionally doesn't own a press. A long and slow malolactic fermentation takes place in French Oak barrels (up to 25% new) in their cold cellar. Bottled unfined, unfiltered, and with minimal SO2· 👁 Medium ruby color· 👃 Medium intensity on the nose. Aromas of ripe strawberry, raspberry, red plum, mineral, and wet rock· 👄 The wine is dry, medium+ acidity, medium round tannins, medium+ alcohol, and medium body. Definitely fuller and concentrated than the Freestone-Occidental bottling. Flavors of strawberry, red plum, rhubarb, red cherry, and wet rock. A nice salty almost sea spray note on the medium length finish· 🔔 This wine was really tight when I tasted it. Concentrated and interesting, but not as expressive as the Freestone-Occidental (previous review) or as powerful as the SWK (next review). It's balanced and mineral. My take is that this needs bottle age to show itself completely.