2016 Charles Heintz Vineyard and Winery Swan Selection Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 750 ml

If the name Charles Heintz is on the bottle, we’re always interested. The famed Sonoma Coast winegrower provides the grapes that go into some of our favorite $80-$100+ bottles of DuMol, Williams Selyem, Ceritas, and Littorai, all of whom proudly feature their world-renowned source on the label. 

Robert Parker has called the wines from this vineyard “profound,” “Burgundian-like,” and “absolutely sensational.”

So we were extra intrigued to see the Charles Heintz name flying solo on an estate 2016 Pinot Noir bottling. An owner with deep knowledge of the site, he saves the very best Pinot for himself, making his regular $50 price a total bargain compared to what it would cost in someone else’s hands. We were in talks to purchase a few dozen cases at that already killer value when their distributor unexpectedly went under, and we found ourselves in a position to negotiate an unbelievable deal—$28 per bottle, if we take the entire allocation. 

Based on taste alone, we would never peg this as a $28 Pinot. Made exclusively from the Heritage Swan Clone, its briary cherry aromas have a sophisticated dusting of baking spice that evokes wines three and four times the price. Mouth-coating and creamy, the candied cherry palate is balanced with a mouthwatering acidity that keeps the structure precise and linear, while fresh-tilled earth, mushroom, Chinese five-spice, and a lingering note of licorice round out impressively on the finish. 

Located in the Russian River Valley town of Occidental just six miles east of the Bodega Bay coastline, Charles Heintz Vineyard is a cool-climate Sonoma Coast site whose sandy loam soils have been farmed by the same family since 1912. Surrounded by beautiful old redwoods, the vineyard sits at an elevation of 1,000 feet, allowing the region’s brisk foggy evenings, warm sunny days, and distinct maritime influence to deliver wines of gorgeous structure and savory complexity. 

That proved especially true in the ideal, long growing season of 2016, a year that Vinous critic Antonio Galloni called, “one of the most consistently brilliant and alluring young vintages I have ever tasted in Sonoma.”

Over 100 years of institutional family knowledge mean that third-generation farmer Charles Heintz is not only fluent in his estate vineyard, he is one of the most sought-after winegrowing talents in all of California, with access to some of the best clonal material in the state. 

Which is why Charles decided to reserve enough of his vineyard’s Swan Heritage Clone to use exclusively in his namesake estate Pinot Noir. Long rumored to be derived from smuggled suitcase cuttings from Burgundy’s famed Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, his plantings are a result of the Heintz family’s 1960s and 70s ties to neighboring Sonoma pioneer Joseph Swan, who first propagated and named the clone. 

Yet another reason we can’t quite believe we have the exclusive on this 2016 Swan Selection Pinot Noir for $28 a pop. A windfall cellar addition for Pinot lovers of all stripes, don’t miss out on this rare, once-in-a-lifetime chance to stock up on Charles Heintz quality at half the price.