I tasted St. Innocent’s 2010 Pinot Noir Momtazi Vineyard for the first time in July alongside the 2011, because Vlossak said he didn’t feel it had been ready to show back in June of last year, when I tasted most of his 2010s for my issue 202 report. Tart-edged red currant and cherry dominate as they did in the corresponding 2011, but there is a bit more sweetness of fruit here and that characteristic is admirably set-off by a seductively polished and enveloping textural impression. “The way this wine’s come ‘round is about the most remarkable transformation I have ever experienced in a nine month period,” notes Vlossak, comparing his impression of this wine from autumn, 2012 to this July. An undertone of wet stone and smoky suffusion of black tea further set-off – now by contrast – the bright ripeness and vibrancy of red fruits. (Incidentally, there were nearly 1,100 cases of this, but only around 700 of the 2011.) Black pepper and cumin add invigoration and allure to the mouthwateringly long, saliva-inducingly salt-tinged finish of a Pinot likely to intrigue and invigorate through at least 2018. I’m amazed at how consistently Vlossak’s wine from this site has distinguished itself in each of the three vintages I’ve tasted. Given the extreme challenge of wind and high elevation you’d expect this to be a site that retains energy and brightness when subjected to heat as in 2009. But to succeed – albeit in an utterly different key – in late-ripening 2010 and 2011, seems to speak to something else special about this site. (Granted, not every block contracted to St. Innocent was even vinified red in 2011.) Vlossak – echoing views expressed by a host of vintners the world ‘round in similar circumstances – is convinced that the wide diurnal temperature swings here are critical to building character in the resultant wines. Incidentally, it was his having been impressed with the successes of biodynamic Cote d’Or vintners that led Vlossak to approach Momtazi in 2006 about obtaining a share of the eponymous vineyard’s fruit. Founder-winemaker Mark Vlossak – for much more about whom, and about St. Innocent, consult my issue 202 report – compares 2011 with the low-alcohol, high-acid Pinots he bottled in 1999, but not by way of dwelling on similarities; on the contrary. “I basically told people not to drink them,” he says of his 1999s, “and I’m still not drinking them. Every time I open ‘em I just think they’re way too young. Some may just be starting to come ‘round. But 2011 is completely different. Back then a lot of the vineyard was dying of phylloxera. We still had wide spacing. Now we have younger vines but with much denser spacing and more leaves to do the job.” Vlossak notes that “the highest alcohol I got in 2011was 13%, and I didn’t chaptalize anything that came in over 12.5%. The largest sugar buy I had ever made until now was 50 pounds, which means that basically I’d never really chaptalized anything. And I bought around 1,700 pounds of sugar in 2011!” Fermentative extraction and pressing were both gentler than usual – and “usual’ here, Vlossak has repeatedly sought to assure me, signifies an already light touch. I found two Vlossak’s whites tasted ahead of his latest Pinot Noirs surprisingly glassy in texture and tart, especially considering the noticeable degree of alcoholic ripeness achieved in the 2012 Pinot Blanc. Tel. (503) 932 2129