J. Rochioli Creates Its Own Miniature Cote d’Or

Every once in a while, new wines show us how the global wine culture continues to evolve. Last year’s release of five notable wines from a single Northern California property was a significant event in the small but vibrant world of California Pinot Noir: the adoption not so much of a French grape or winemaking technique but of a way of thinking about wine.

The wines were vineyard-designated 1999 Pinots from J. Rochioli Vineyards. The West Block, East Block, Little Hill, River Block and Three Corner Vineyard are from adjoining plots at the heart of the Rochioli estate, a miniature Cote d’Or on the northern edge of the Russian River. Such a detailed anatomical representation of a wine estate is unprecedented in California, even in the precocious Russian River Valley Pinot culture.

In their Californian way, these five Rochioli wines represent a mosaic of distinctive expressions comparable to wines from a similar cluster of vineyards in, say, Vosne-Romanee. They aren’t Burgundy, and they certainly aren’t Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. What they are is California’s first convincing emulation of the classical model, and as such they signal an exciting new phase in Russian River Valley Pinot Noir evolution.

Without question, Burgundy still rules Pinot Noir with its tapestry of tiny, closely segregated vineyards. It probably always will. Certainly in the foreseeable future it will remain light years ahead of other aspiring Pinot regions in its high degree of viticultural definition, the depth and complexity of its wine culture and the high accomplishments of its vignerons.

But it took thousands of years for Pinot Noir to emerge as the primary red grape of Burgundy, and many centuries for a culture to coalesce around it. In the Russian River Valley, an echo of that process has taken barely half a century.

In the Rochioli vineyards, the plant material and cultivation are essentially the same throughout the five blocks, which include grower Joe Rochioli’s original 1968 vines, propagated from a selection that he obtained from the old Karl Wente vineyard in Livermore. That block was the source of budwood for most subsequent plantings on the ranch, although newer (non-designated) blocks also include two Dijon clones as well as the Swan and Hanzell selections.

And each wine is made in the same straightforward way (open-top fermenters, mixed French oak barrels) by Tom Rochioli (Joe’s son and partner). Tom’s intent is to shepherd the wines through the process without manipulation; he says the most crucial decision he makes is when to pick each block.

Yet despite everything they have in common, each wine is different, evidently reflecting mysterious variations in terroir that are comparable to the subtle shifts in subsoil and aspect that define the great Cote d’Or vineyards. Although it’s not yet apparent just what the determining factors are in this situation, Pinot fans have an exciting opportunity to taste along with Tom Rochioli as the story unfolds vintage by vintage.

One of the main qualities the wines share is a remarkable clarity of fruit. That’s expressed most dramatically in the East Block, from four acres of vines planted in 1968. This is a rich, deeply flavored wine with succulent acidity that keeps it crystal-clear despite its density, and provides a lift to the savory black-cherry finish.

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That balance of concentration and clarity also characterizes the West Block, from four acres of the old Wente selection planted in 1969. This majestic Pinot Noir could serve as a liquid portrait of the Russian River Valley, deep and full with a satisfying weight and underlying current moving purposefully through the palate. That harmony is also the hallmark of the intense, velvety wine from neighboring River Block, 13 acres propagated from West Block vines planted in 1995 on an especially deep gravel layer.

There’s more spice and elegance in the wine from Three Corner Vineyard, a 1974 planting bordering West Block. “I think of it as the feminine side of West Block,” says Tom Rochioli. Indeed, it shows the same generous perfume and deep flavor, but with a little less weight.

Yet another facet of the estate is displayed in the finely structured Pinot from the Little Hill vineyard, a scant two acres planted in 1985 on thin soil over an ancient river rock deposit. In its definition, high-toned perfume and racy momentum through the palate, it is distinctly more Burgundian than the richer wines from the adjacent Three Corner Vineyard and West Block.

Not coincidentally, it was during a 1990 visit to Burgundy that Tom Rochioli experienced his wine epiphany. It came, as it has for many others, in the cellars of the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, while tasting with the reigning high priest of Pinot Noir, Aubert de Villaine. Specifically, it was in the gleaming depths of the 1945 La Tache that Rochioli saw the future.

“At that point, I was ready to join the church,” he recalls. “Suddenly it all made sense. Here are these blocks of vines together in a pretty small area on a slope that looks fairly uniform, and the wine from each block is different and unique.”

The vision in Burgundy galvanized a process that was already underway. Tom had already bottled a separate 1989 Rochioli Reserve Pinot that was entirely from West Block (already the source of Williams-Selyem’s “Rochioli Vineyard” bottling). That wine was the first step toward segregating the best parts of the vineyard and bottling single-vineyard wines (which now also include the ’99 South River Vineyard Chardonnay).

He had been tracking the distinctive characteristics of wines from the surrounding vineyards since joining the family business as winemaker in 1982. Throughout the ‘90s he continued to refine his sensory map of the estate. In ’92 he added East Block and Three Corner Vineyard to the reserve program, and Little Hill vineyard in ’95. At the same time, he had to balance the inclination toward single-block bottlings with maintaining the integrity of the primary Rochioli Estate Pinot Noir. “I didn’t want to sacrifice the estate wine for the single vineyard bottlings,” he says now, “so I had to wait for some of the newer vineyards to mature.”

The significant block-designated J. Rochioli ‘99s soon will be joined by similar statements from a new planting on adjacent property. The Rochiolis’ new Sweetwater Vineyard was planted with site-specific bottlings in mind.

“It’s too young to tell yet,” says Tom, “but I did a lot of homework and I’m hoping for the best. Of course, this whole thing has a lot to do with Mother Nature and luck.”

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Smith is writer-at-large for Wine & Spirits magazine.