Capiaux Cellars Chimera Pinot Noir 2014
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Robert
Parker
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The least expensive wine, the 2014 Pinot Noir Chimera, comes from several Russian River sites and sees only 10% new oak. Its is a beautiful wine and Capiaux’s biggest production item. It is a heck of a value for an outstanding Pinot Noir. Beautiful sassafras, pomegranate and black cherry notes intermixed with some damp earth and forest floor are all present in this wine, which also offers some baking spices and subtle background earth in its long, heady finish. Drink it over the next 3-4 years.
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2021- Vinous
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Robert
Parker
Sean Capiaux founded Capiaux Cellars in 1994 with the intention of producing small lot, single vineyard bottlings of Pinot Noir, one of the noblest and most difficult varieties to produce. Over the past few decades, Sean has established an impressive career at prominent wineries around the globe. He graduated from California State University with an enology degree in the late ‘80s and began his career at Jordan Winery in Sonoma County’s Alexander Valley. Sean then traveled to Perth, Australia to assist with winemaking at Houghton Winery, later returning to the U.S. to gain notable experience at Peter Michael and Pine Ridge in California as well as Macari, Jamesport and Schneider in Long Island. In 2000, Betty O’Shaughnessy recruited Sean for her new O’Shaughnessy Estate Winery, where he remains today as president and winemaker, while continuing to produce his Capiaux Cellars Pinot Noir.
Sean’s winemaking style is a blend of classic and contemporary, utilizing cutting edge equipment paired with hands-on and minimalistic winemaking techniques. His philosophy at Capiaux is to produce wines that express the unique terroir from which they came, and to have the inherent flavors of the grape and land be the leading attributes of the wine rather than additives or winemaking influences. Sean sources fruit on a long-term basis from various sites including Garys’, Pisoni, Wilson, Widdoes, and Starscape Vineyards All the Capiaux vineyards are contracted on a “by-the-acre” rather than a “per-ton” basis, which allows them to prune, shoot-thin and drop crop as they see fit. All wines are naturally fermented, unrefined and unfiltered, with minimal use of new oak to preserve innate flavors and aromas.
The Sonoma Coast AVA is large in area but, not counting overlapping regions like Russian River Valley, only has a few thousand acres of grapevines—and it’s no wonder. Much of the region is rugged and not easily accessible. Its proximity to the Pacific Ocean’s fog and cool breezes limits the varieties that can be cultivated, but it proves to be an ideal environment for high quality Pinot Noir.
Since fog is a frequent fact of life here, as are heavy marine layers that sometimes bring rain, the best vineyards are wisely planted above the fog line, on picturesque ridges that capture enough sun to provide even ripening. That, with the overnight drop in temperature that reliably preserves acidity, results in fine expressions of Pinot Noir that often receive tremendous critic and consumer praise alike, and are often in high demand.