Bringing Out the Purity: Kistler Lifts its Pinot Noir Game

Kistler Vineyards' chardonnays are among the more well-known and high-scoring whites in California, but their pinot noirs don’t tend to get quite as much attention. Last month, winemaker Jason Kesner hosted a fascinating tasting of Kistler pinots from 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2023 at Gramercy Tavern in New York City, during which it became clear that the Sonoma County producer's reds deserve just as much respect.

The 2021s were particularly appealing. That vintage’s Laguna Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir is uniquely pure and crunchy, a scaffolding of minerality buttressing rose petals, jasmine and hibiscus alongside wild strawberries, turned earth and a touch of salinity. The Kistler Pinot Noir Sonoma County Russian River Valley Silver Belt Vineyard Cuvée Natalie 2021 balances power and grace with aplomb, the dark cherries, cacao nibs, tobacco leaf, leather and lavender woven seamlessly together. It’s a mineral wine that still needs a bit of time, and it's best to enjoy this one after 2026.

It was no surprise to Kesner that the ‘21s were so successful. He said the year was his “favorite personal vintage” since he has been with Kistler. “It’s a very cool vintage, but overlaid with drought conditions, so you've got all of this extract and concentration and texture, with the more elegant tones of a cool vintage,” he said. “So there’s great acid retention and a lot of purity at the top end.”

He is also bullish on the 2023s, which he lauded as a “remarkable vintage and growing season” – one that was mild all the way through.

“There were really super cool conditions at harvest and a very extended harvest, which allowed all of the individual sites to really come into their own from a flavor perspective without the chemistry shifting much,” he said, adding that “we weren't forced by Mother Nature in any way, shape or form.”

The Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2023 embodies this nicely, its floral lift hovering above a bergamot- and sarsaparilla-spiced palate of pure cherries, forest floor and drive.

Kistler’s work with pinot noir has been decades in the making. “We've been actually experimenting with pinot noir since our first vintage, 1979,” Kesner said. “Like our chardonnay program, we've finally zeroed in on a smaller set of clones. We narrowed it down to two clones about 25 years ago, and we're still working out which one we like better.”

Since about 2016, he explained, their winemaking has been mostly hands-off, with a whole list of things they do not do. “We don't cold soak; we don't use any whole clusters; we do not pump over; we do not punch down for extraction, and there's no press wine in any of the wines,” he said. “So all the color and extract and concentration come from our farming, which we spend a lot of time focusing on.”

Those efforts paid off with particular clarity in the Laguna Ridge Vineyard 2016, which is at a beautiful place of evolution right now – fresh and with plenty of momentum and presence, its petrichor and woodsy spice dusting mountain berries and citrus oils as it unfurls with elegance and tensile strength.

Kesner likened 2016 to 2011 in its lovely coolness, as he put it. The two Kistler pinots from 2019, on the other hand, embody the mildness and warmer evenings that marked that vintage. Of the two, the Silver Belt Vineyard Cuvée Natalie 2019 is the standout, its tension and pulse of acidity cutting through blood oranges and sliced cherries. Cola spice, oak duff, carob and ganache dovetail with the silky textures throughout.

The selection of wines at the New York lunch showcased the consistency and attention to detail that have allowed Kistler’s pinot noirs to achieve a similar level of accomplishment as their chardonnays, though with less fanfare. That success is not by mistake, but is a result of conscientious farming, thoughtful, hands-off winemaking and a willingness to let the vintage and land to shine through with clarity and expressiveness.

– Brian Freedman, Contributing Taster

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated by the JamesSuckling.com tasting team. You can sort the wines by score and vintage. You can also search for specific wines in the search bar.