“La Follette, arguably one of California’s most influential winemakers of the past three decades, can’t imagine sitting to the side.” – San Francisco Chronicle

Buckle up for some serious name-throwing today, Ops.

Ladies and gents, with great pride and joy, we bring you a Pinot Noir by Greg La Follette today.

And not just any Greg La Follette Pinot; this is his Fourth Act. As in the 4th winery he’s owned during an illustrious career. Over 70 harvests in a lifetime. La Crema. Hartford Court. Flowers. DeLoach. Tandem. Alquimista. Just some of the names you are or ought to be familiar with, all made by La Follette at one point, most having been put on the map under his watch.

As Press Democrat points out, “Getting his start under legendary winemaker André Tchelistcheff, he went on to become the founding winemaker at Flowers Winery, where his Pinot Noir reached cult status.”

He is instrumental in not only progressing wineries, but vineyards, and people as well. As Robert Parker once pointed out, “Greg La Follette was one of the pioneers of the Sonoma Coast, and he deserves enormous credit for sourcing potentially brilliant vineyard sites throughout the area.” His well-earned nickname in the wine business is “vineyard whisperer,” having brought hidden gems like Sangiacomo, Lorenzo, Van der Kamp, Ritchie, and Silver Pines into the limelight.

Through his infinite guidance and wisdom, visionaries such as Zelma Long, Ted Lemon, Merry Edwards, Carol Shelton, Margaret Davenport, and Eric Sussman rose to stardom as well. Greg IS the business.

This emblematic Pinot is a single vineyard too, entirely from the Huichica Creek Vineyard, mostly an educational site on the Napa side of Carneros, surrounded by the likes of Etude, Saintsbury, Bouchaine, and Hudson Ranch. Huichica Creek is a certified “Sustainable Demonstration Vineyard,” managed and owned by the Napa County Resource Conservation District.

The wine? Classic La Follette. With complex, heady aromas of ripe berries, plum, smoky baking spices, and vanilla, with a lifted floral nuance emerging with air. Lithe, seamless, and expansive, offering intense black cherry, raspberry, lavender, and cola underscored by zesty minerality. The spice and floral accents dominate the long, focused finish, framed by dusty, silky tannins. With the right food, like a wild salmon, skin on, pan-seared and broiled to perfection with truffle mashed potatoes, it would truly sing!

The real music to my rusty ole ears is the $25 we somehow managed to get this legit $65 single-vineyard beauty down to. Besides the well-deserved recognition and award at the American Fine Wine Competition, it has no reviews or scores from the press, nor does it need one, as a signature La Follatte masterpiece.

While it lasts…