Variety: Pinot Noir

Stand above the fog line and glimpse the power of the Pacific at 1500 ft. elevation and you’ll begin to understand what attracted David Hirsch to his extreme site back in 1980. Hirsch was not born into the wine world. Rather he was a lover of pinot noir, more specifically Burgundy, to which I can very much relate. Buying and selling textiles between the US and France, he reached a turning point. The lure of a quiet farm life with his family brought him to Fort-Ross Seaview, on the Sonoma coast, just three hours from San Francisco. The property sits on a ridgeline, cleared of redwoods and fir trees with a climate that is incredibly coastal. Straddling the San Andreas Fault, the soils are intensely complex. Most world class vineyard sites are known for only having a few soils. Hirsch, on the other hand, has 44 different soil types. It should come as no surprise that this is one of the most expressive and important vineyards in the US.

Bohan-Dillon transcends what you may expect from Hirsch. Just as much as there is attention to detail is a level of drinkability with this bottle, which Hirsch encourages. “Bohan-Dillon” is the name of a road that runs north to south in Sonoma Coast, though is also named after Mike Bohan, who is noted as being the first modern wine grower there. This is an ode to the village level wines of France. The integrity is the same as the top wines, though the only difference is the time spent in the barrel, making for an accessible wine that can be drunk young. Bohan comes from 20 to 30 year old vines. This is aged in open-top tanks and then aged in French oak, 12% of which is new.