Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - 28

California

Easkoot

Stephan and Emily Schindler jettisoned their LA television-production company soon after they launched Winemonger, their Austrian-focused
wine import business, in 2003. They later moved north to Marin County, and made the first wine under their own Easkoot label in 2009,
starting with a pinot noir from the cool, windy Chileno Valley Vineyard just 20 minutes away from their home in San Anselmo. The 2014 is
their best vintage yet: The Chileno Valley Pinot Noir is trim and pretty as usual, but with just a bit more concentration-delicious, perfumed
and graceful. The 2014 Suacci Vineyard Pinot Noir, from just over the Sonoma border, is similarly bright, with a refreshing, sumac-scented
coastal vibrancy. A new addition: an addictively frisky rosé from some of the Chileno Valley fruit. -L.S.

Oregon

Bill Sweat

Winderlea
Former Bostonians Bill Sweat and Donna Morris bought the Goldschmidt Vineyard in 2006 and renamed it Winderlea. It's a 20-acre
mid-slope parcel in the Dundee Hills planted mostly to old-clone
pinot noir, some dating back to 1974. They've tapped Leigh Bartholomew, who managed Archery Summit's vineyards for 12 years,
to farm their vines, and brought on consultant Philippe Armenier
to help transition the estate to biodynamics. They also purchase
fruit from other prized Dundee Hills sources, such as Maresh,
Murto and Weber vineyards, as well as Shea, Hyland and Crawford Beck from farther afield in the Willamette Valley. In all, it's a
robust portfolio of pinot blanc, chardonnay and about a half-dozen
vineyard-designated pinot noirs. Robert Brittan, former winemaker
for Stags' Leap Winery in Napa Valley, directs the winemaking;
the 2013s we tasted this year stood out for their transparency and
finesse, red-fruited purity of flavor. -P.J.C

WINE & SPIRITS

BUYING GUIDE 2017

Australia

Giles Cooke, MW

Thistledown/One Chain

Giles Cook and Fergal Tynan met 16 years ago at a bar while studying for their Master of Wine exams. Then they met again as MWs,
when Cook, of Alliance Wines, and Peter Leske of Revenir, were
working on a project to make house wines for high-end restaurants. Tynan joined Alliance, and the three started making One
Chain (now about 8,000 cases), then added Thistledown as their
top selections (about 2,000 cases). "The three of us have differing
opinions about most things in life," Tynan says. "The only thing
we agree on is wine-the old wines of Maurice O'Shea, or Wendouree, those are the bottles we used to gather and drink." They
set out to make wines that emulate those classics, searching out
old vines, ungrafted and unirrigated, focused on Barossa and Eden
Valley south to McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek. In addition
to a delicious $17 Shiraz from One Chain, the wine that caught
our attention was the 2013 Thorny Devil Grenache. Fermented
as mostly whole berries without added yeast, then aged in old oak
barrels, it's the kind of fresh, powerfully structured red that defines
what's great about Barossa. -J.G.
Imported by Wine Dogs, Brooklyn, NY

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016