2006 Black Kite Cellars "Kite's Rest" Pinot Noir
Telecom entrepreneur Donald Green and his family purchased the Kite's Rest vineyard site in the northern part of the valley in 1995, northwest of Philo toward the coast. Their Black Kite Cellars showed remarkably well in our panel. The wines are made by Jeff Gaffner, whose Saxon Brown label turns out superior Zinfandels. This blend of the various blocks, the most affordable of the bunch, is a fantastically pure expression of Anderson Valley Pinot, with toasted spice and dry pine on the nose, a bit of funky earth and then layers of buoyant cranberry and black cherry. There's clarity and acid-led definition, doubly surprising given the 14.7 percent alcohol (apparently standard for the 2006 Black Kite wines).


2006 Black Kite Cellars "Redwoods' Edge" Pinot Noir
Redwoods' Edge is the highest (321 feet), steepest and lowest yielding of Black Kite's three blocks, providing less than 2 tons of fruit per acre. It offers up a heftier wine, with more overt oak and heat amid a mix of very ripe and leaner, more tangy bright fruit, plus berry-leaf notes, cinnamon and allspice. One taster detected sweet corn. There's impressive delicacy given its size.


2006 Black Kite Cellars "River Turn" Pinot Noir
By contrast, River Turn is the lowest of Black Kite's parcels, planted to Pommard clone with more sand and silt in the soil. The oak is overt, but to match there is a subtle fragrance: allspice, lavender and floral hints. That's offset with dusty, dark loam notes, sappy cherry, cranberry and boysenberry. The fruit is lush and juicy, and the structure is very well managed.

"One of the highlights of my day was tasting at the Black Kite table. (Black Kite is named for the Black Shouldered Kite, now known as the White Tailed Kite--the Obama of raptors, apparently.) Black Kite is located in Anderson Valley in Mendocino County, and has quickly become one of the top Pinot Noir producers in that county. They were serving their yet-to-be-released 2007 Pinot Noirs, and all four of them were gorgeous! The Black Kite 2007 Kite's Rest Anderson Valley is a blend of their vineyard sites. Here's a wine that makes an instant impression in your mouth, sort of like dental equipment, only pleasant. Bright with acidity, the hallmark of the subtlety of all the Black Kite wines, it has lovely, restrained black cherry and spice fruit. The 2007 Redwood's Edge was a wine so pretty I could just smell it all day and be perfectly happy. Like a new car, or Ann Coulter's protective cup. I nearly forgot to taste it I was so busy inhaling. But it didn't disappoint, it was elegant and lovely, filled with promising fruit. By the time it's released it should be truly wonderful Pinot Noir. The 2007 Stony Terrace was equally impressive, but struck me as a bit more structured. It can be hard to tell at this age, but there's no mistaking the Black Kite wines for anything but topnotch. The Stony Terrace had aromas of red fruits, cherry and raspberry, with underlying notes of white pit fruit that spoke to its bright acidity and balance. In a few years, these wines should be just bursting with lush, sweet fruit flavors. Finally, the Black Kite 2007 River Turn may have been my favorite Pinot Noir of the entire event. It was the biggest of the Black Kite Beauties, but never wanted for elegance, intensity or beauty. The promise of Anderson Valley Pinot Noir is fulfilled in a glass of this whoopee juice.Get on their list now before the wines are released, they are made in very small quantities, like my jokes, and just as hard to get."