Beautiful new Pinot Noir from boutique producer Salty Goats, one of our favorite new wineries! Limited.

96 Points Decanter: "The Salty Goats 2024 Fort Ross is sourced from the rugged 10-acre King's Ridge site (also known as Red Car Estate) in the Fort Ross-Seaview appellation, planted to Calera clone Pinot Noir with sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean on the western Sonoma Coast.  Additional fruit comes from Macdougal Ranch, planted to Clone 155, contributing bright red fruit, aromatic spice and a silky texture profile. The Macdougal site sits on a south-west-facing slope toward the forest, right along the coastline, with vines approaching four decades of age. This is a vivid, crunchy, bright and expressive wine, marked by high-tones Asian Spice, lifted red floral notes and beautifully lacy acidity, supported by fine, chalky tannins. Candied red berry fruit drives the palate, recalling the bite of a crisp, spiced apple. Medium-bodied and finely structured, it shows vivid, refined tannins and an impressively complex, fragrant profile.  This is the wine to geek out on, while the Coastline Project - darker-fruited and silkier - offers earlier gratification as this bottling settles in and reveals greater nuance with time. The wine is the brainchild of partner winemakers Joe Harden and Phil Holbrook, who have worked together at Nickel & Nickel for nearly a decade. While deeply versed in Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, their shared passion for lighter, site-driven wines like Pinot Noir led them to launch Salty Goats in 2020 as a creative outlet. Fermented with 40% whole clusters using native yeast and native malolactic fermentation, the wine is aged for 12 months in barrel with 30% new French oak, and bottled unfined and unfiltered."

Salty Goats Wine Company is a new portfolio showcasing the talents of rising stars Joe Harden and Phil Holbrook, the acclaimed winemaking team at Nickel & Nickel. Joe and Phil are prodigies in Napa Valley winemaking, mentored by Thomas Rivers Brown, and appointed head and assistant winemakers at Nickel & Nickel at the remarkable ages of 30 and 28, respectively. At Salty Goats, Joe and Phil are free to explore their own creative vision, crafting wines that are both elegant and expressive. The wines are made at TRB’s Mending Wall facility with grapes from some of the finest organically farmed vineyards on the Sonoma Coast and in Napa Valley.