2015 Westwood Pinot Noir Wendling Vineyard Anderson Valley 750 ml

Shrouded in thick Pacific fog and dotted with towering redwoods, Anderson Valley possesses an untapped, primal beauty. It is a haven for Pinot Noir where blustery winds and ancient, gravelly soils combine to produce complex gems that dramatically overdeliver compared to their pricey Russian River Valley counterparts. 

Leading the pack is the 2015 Westwood Pinot Noir Wendling Vineyard, crafted by none other than David Ramey, the Sonoma pioneer behind top-scoring Ramey Wine Cellars. Wine Enthusiast called it a “stunner,” awarding it 95 points and an Editors’ Choice selection. 

Located at the northwesternmost tip of Anderson Valley in what’s known as the “deep end,” Wendling Vineyard is just a few miles from the Pacific, and the brilliance of the site has attracted the attention of heavy-hitting Pinot Noir producers like Littorai, Copain, and Drew. In fact, it was a bottle of Ted Lemon’s single-vineyard Littorai Wendling Pinot Noir that introduced Carl Stanton, founder of Westwood, to Wendling in the first place. Stanton was captivated by the freshness and singularity of Lemon’s effort, and set out to make his own. 

As it turned out, the 2015 Westwood Wendling Pinot Noir, Stanton’s inaugural effort from the vineyard, wound up earning a 95-point score, and doing it at less than half the cost of Ted Lemon’s 2015! Credit David Ramey, one of the greatest winemakers in the history of California, for elegantly bringing Wendling’s dynamic character into the glass. 

The 2015 bursts with abundant raspberry and black cherry layered on top of freshly tilled soil, with etchings of dried herbs, violets, and spice, and a persistent, mouthwatering finish that lingers with hints of oak and cacao. But it’s the coastal freshness threaded with saline minerality that truly defines this wine and the special place where it was grown. 

In the mornings, ghostly fog blankets the vines at Wendling, keeping the Pinot Noir berries cool and maintaining their mouthwatering acidity. By midday, gusts from the ocean blow off the fog, allowing the California sun to do its work ripening the fruit. Drastic diurnal temperature shifts yield serenely balanced wines with concentrated and complex flavors from slow ripening. 

Hand-harvested at night to maintain freshness, Ramey and the Westwood team brought in just three tons of fruit from low-yielding Wendling. Fermentation took place with native yeasts, and gentle extraction followed by aging for 16 months in 56% new French oak. As Wine Enthusiast wrote, “A deft touch of spicy oak lifts the aroma, and meets compelling, intricate notes of red and black cherry, rhubarb and mushroom on the palate.” 

Westwood made just 142 cases of the superb 2015 Wendling Vineyard Pinot Noir. We were lucky to lock in a handful of them. As top tier Pinot Noirs go, this is a major steal.