We’ve been championing the wines from the ultra-remote Peay
vineyard for a few years now. Planted in 1998, the vineyard turns 20 this year
and quality levels have never been higher.
The lion’s share of production goes
to Pinot Noir, followed by Chardonnay and Syrah (alongside minute quantities of
other varieties that don’t make it across the pond). The vineyard is nestled
amongst huge redwoods, 600 feet above sea level, four miles from the coast and within
the inversion layer. Effectively within the fog line, this a truly cool
Californian vineyard whose year round temperatures are moderated in a
meaningful way by the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean. Contrary to being further
in-land, out on the coast the higher you get the warmer it becomes. At 600 feet
you hit something of a sweet spot, cool enough to moderate ripening but not so
affected by fog as to be constantly battling mildew. Being 600 feet lower than the lowest
vineyards in the nearby Fort Ross and Seaview AVA, (home to the likes of
Hirsch, Flowers and Martinelli) means that average yearly temperatures are
12-13 degrees lower at the Peay’s vineyard. That’s a meaningful drop. It is
hardly surprising they were repeatedly told that ripening grapes would be a
struggle out here and indeed today their tiny yields are testament to this
perilous spot. Truly, this is winemaking on the edge.
The beauty for the drinker is that their wines betray this
struggle and proudly wear their site on their sleeve – these are not jammy,
candied Californian show offs, but cool
complex delicacies which taste as if they come from a remote forested ridge
close to the sea. Fruit is layered and detailed, and as we witnessed, blows off
to reveal wonderfully complex base notes with time in bottle. The tendency to
drink Pinot and Chardonnay like this young is understandable, after all they
are often delicious and approachable from the get go – but for those with just
a little patience, real complexity and secondary nuance can be achieved in less
time than is often the case in Burgundy.
Raised from an early age on just such European wines, the
Peay Brothers specifically did not want big ripe fruit profiles in their wines.
They wanted the backbones of acidity and structure to provide a framework for
nuanced complex flavours to expand into.
Initially starting with carefully selected clonal program of just Pinot
noir and Chardonnay the range now includes an excellent estate Pinot Noir, three fascinating ‘Cru’ Pinot Noirs , each a
stylistic blend built around different clones and blocks from their home
vineyard, two Chardonnays, a brace of Syrah and one or two other varietal side
projects. All fruit is their own and
worked on by their team of 8 full time workers, a seldom found level of care
for both people and grapes. Winemaking
is carried out by Vanessa Wong, a woman with a prodigious CV after stints with
Lafite, Jean Gros, Hirsch and latterly Peter Michael, whose wines these Peay
bottlings could not reassemble less. As
Andy remarks, she would have been too expensive to hire, so it was fortuitous
that she and Nick hit it off so well. They were married in 2001.
The entire Peay approach centres on transmitting the
qualities of their extraordinary vineyard. As such, Vanessa’s winemaking is
restrained, invisible even, employing minimal new oak usage and only occasional
use of whole bunch fermentation. The largest percentage we’ve seen is 8% in
Pommarium, never undertaken dogmatically only when it will serve to make a
better wine. Chardonnays are picked with good acidity, full malo is carried out
and again new oak is used judiciously. Battonage is done sparingly if they
feel it will improve the wine's mouthfeel.
We spent two days with Andy Peay in London two weeks ago and
it confirmed the fact that this is one of the most exciting current Californian
projects going. Andy explained in detail
that the coolness of the site was exactly what they were looking for back in
1996, “places that grew moss and ferns seemed like good indicators of water and
cool weather….it seemed like madness at first, and those first few years living
out there were kind of crazy”. They dreamt of making elegant, balanced, site
driven wines but they soon found out that meant a struggle to ripeness and
ensuing tiny yields. It soon became clear this was the price to pay to make the
wines they’d want to drink. When they
found the site in 1996 it was literally off the winemaking map, the most
northern and most remote site in all of Sonoma.
We tasted a number of older bottles during the course of
Andy’s visit that proved what an astute decision it was to plant this land two
decades ago. Of particular note were an ’04 Estate Chardonnay, an ’02 Pinot
Noir and an ’05 La Bruma Syrah. Each and every one was on song. The ’02 Pinot
was both the most mature but also perhaps the most surprising of the lot. A
wonderful perfume of fallen beech leaves, cep mushroom and sweet briary berries
spoke of old world complexity and only got better with air in the glass. On the
palate this could easily have been austere and tired yet it showed an internal
sweetness that allayed any fears of drying out, finishing on sous bois notes
and forest fruit. This very first bottling, kindly sent over from their
miniscule library stocks, was originally sold only to family and friends. It was
holding up incredibly well. The ’04 Chardonnay was a wonderful bottle of wine
in anyone’s book. A resplendently mature nose conjured aromas of fine old white
burgundy in pre-premox days, nutty, lightly honeyed, salty smoky flavours
underpinned by a spine of fine acidity and tension. It was so articulate, and
as a 14 year old wine from the vines that were just 5 years old it was absurdly
good. Again, it held up brilliantly in the glass and was still going strong the
next day – clearly no flash in the pan.
Finally, La Bruma 2005 provided proof that through careful vineyard
management and the nerve to hold back from picking until November, even ripe
Syrah was possible out there, with all of the aromatic diversity and cool
spiced fragrance of a northern Rhone. At
13 years old this was sophisticated and assured. The 2009 was similarly
impressive, though clearly from a warmer year and likely to benefit from a few
more years in bottle. A final 2011 Chardonnay was starting to show what happens
to these wines with just a few years in bottle – ripe, broadening flavours
blooming above, with the grip and steering of fabulous acidity below.
There’s so much to get excited with these Peay bottles. As
they start to get opened more regularly with proper bottle age, we foresee
their status rising exponentially. Sadly the quantities that make it over here
of all of these wines, but in particular the Pinot Cuvees, Estate Chardonnay
and La Bruma Syrah, are tiny. For now most are available but it may not stay
like that for long…