Description
Joseph Jewell, Eel River Pinot Noir
We’ve offered Joseph Jewell’s wines numerous times before, we’ve made multiple in-person visits to their cellar, and we’ve drained many bottles at our dinner tables. Yet they still surprise: in a recent office-wide blind tasting, more than a few of us pegged today’s “Eel River” Pinot Noir as a top notch Côte de Nuits bottling. It only underscored our belief that Joseph Jewell is one of the most underrated Pinot producers in California, ready to go toe-to-toe with the best from Sonoma, Oregon, and yes, Burgundy.
“Eel River” doesn’t hail from one of the blue chip Pinot AVAs, yet despite—or maybe because of—that, it serves as a single-bottle encapsulation of winemaker Adrian Manspeaker’s passion, talent, and vision. In this singular bottle fruit sourced from some of the most remote sites in California meets painstakingly precise winemaking. It’s suffused with sun-soaked fruit tones, mineral savor, and Old World structure in equal measure. In some ways it doesn’t seem right that this masterful stuff carries a sub-$40 price tag when similarly-performing bottles regularly command twice that. But we’re not complaining; we’re just hoarding as much of it as we can before the rest of the world catches on. We strongly suggest you do the same!
Humboldt County might not be a household grape growing name, but one day it will be. Dotted throughout its 2.3 million acres of Redwood groves and cattle pastures are 150 acres of vines with some seriously special terroir. Located north of Mendocino, not far from the California/Oregon border, vineyards in Humboldt plunge their roots deep into mineral-rich soils and get blanketed by early morning fog off nearby Eel River. It’s a viticultural situation familiar to any lover of California’s most balanced Pinots—warm daytime temps moderated by coastal influence and surprisingly cold nights. But harvest here takes place even later than in Sonoma, often stretching into October, and the cool autumn temps mean more phenologically ripe grapes at lower sugar levels. The resulting wines quiver with chiseled brilliance alongside ample fruit. I can say with absolute certainty that if Joseph Jewell’s labels said “Sonoma” instead of “Humboldt,” they’d be the apple of every critic’s (and sommelier’s) eye.
There may be no one working harder to get Humboldt onto the viticultural map than Adrian at Joseph Jewell. Adrian began the project in 2006, literally making two barrels of wine in his garage, and now sources fruit from some of the most esteemed vineyards in California. But he’s a Humboldt native, and he, more than anyone else, recognizes the potential of this special place. Adrian now bottles no fewer than five single-vineyard wines from Humboldt. “Eel River” is his homage to his home county, a barrel selection from some of the appellation’s prime sites: Phelps, Ryan, Elk Prairie, and Alderpoint vineyards. All of the fruit was destemmed and fermented for two weeks with daily punchdowns, before aging in 20% new French oak barrels.
Imagine Santa Barbara generosity married to Chambolle elegance and you’ll have some idea of the beauty that is “Eel River.” The nose bursts with a cornucopia of red and purple fruits—ripe blackberries, Bing cherries, pomegranate, purple plum—alongside licorice, baking spices, leather, black tea, and vanilla. It’s medium-plus in body, mouth coating and completely free of hard edges, loaded with dark berry fruit before a wash of scintillating acidity makes way for the minutes-long, mineral finish. Decant for about 30 minutes and serve in a Burgundy stem and it is utterly delicious right now, but there is also plenty of structure to ensure a graceful development over the next five-plus years. Maybe by then, Humboldt will be getting the recognition, and prices, it deserves. Best to stock up now!
