Head High Wines Sonoma County Pinot Noir 2014
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Wilfred
Wong
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
One of the best Sonoma County AVA Pinot Noirs I have tasted in quite some time. In this vast geographical area—automatically granted its legal definition because it is a county in the United States—there exists a large diversity of climats, allowing vintners to utilize many different vineyard sources. Subsequently, many wineries end up producing mediocre Pinot Noirs under this AVA. The 2014 Head High rises above nearly all others. The wine shows excellent wild strawberry flavors that tantalize and thrill the palate. You can this one to the bank—it is that good! (Tasted: June 7, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
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Applying exceptional winemaking expertise to Sonoma County’s unique terroir, Head High Wines offers vibrant, high-quality wines at an attainable price. They strive to be one of the most environmentally conscious wine brands in the world, responsible stewards of the land in all they do.
In surfing slang, “head high” refers to the perfect sized wave - one that builds to the height of a rider’s head. They also like the other implied meaning: to set the bar as high as they can. They’re an adventurous winery, built by surfers and explorers. They’re free-spirited and creative, but are also focused and hardworking winegrowers, dedicated to creating the best possible wines through vineyard stewardship, intelligent fruit sourcing, and meticulous care in the cellar. Really great wines should be available to everyone. Now they are.
Head High wines are produced by adventurous winegrowers who share a passion for nature, active living, and making the world a better place. They do that through environmental and community stewardship, donating proceeds from sales to their favorite environmental non-profit organizations.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Home to a diverse array of smaller AVAs with varied microclimates and soil types, Sonoma County has something for every wine lover. Physically twice as large as Napa Valley, the region only produces about half the amount of wine but boasts both tremendous quality and variety. With its laid-back atmosphere and down-to-earth attitude, the wineries of Sonoma are appreciated by wine tourists for their friendliness and approachability. The entire county intends to become a 100% sustainable winegrowing region by 2019.
Sonoma County wines are produced with carefully selected grape varieties to reflect the best attributes of their sites—Dry Creek Valley’s consistent sunshine is ideal for Zinfandel, while the warm Alexander Valley is responsible for rich, voluptuous red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are important throughout the county, most notably in the cooler AVAs of Russian River, Sonoma Coast and Carneros. Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Syrah have also found a firm footing here.