Littorai Winery Pinot Noir Thieriot 2003
Review

Littorai Winery Thieriot Vineyard Pinot Noir 2003 Tasting Notes

Littorai is a gem, and for the longest time a hidden secret among Pinot Noir afficianados. It's a small producer who is making very limited production amounts of very good Pinot Noir from the North Bay.

Ted Lemon, the proprietor and winemaker, received his training in Burgundy, France, and can still say to this day he was the only American winemaker to ever be named head winemaker of a Burgundy house--Domaine Guy Roulot in Meursault. This is no small feat, believe me. Ted has been making wines under his own label, Littorai, since 1993. The term Littorai is formed from the Latin word litor, which means the coasts. Most of Ted's wines are from the coastal areas, places like Cerise Vineyard in Anderson Valley to Hirsch Vineyard out at Sonoma Coast.

Since it was a young wine, we had it decanted while we enjoyed our first course-giving it time to breathe before the main course. What struck me off the bat with this wine was its texture. It was simply marvelous--uncuous with a velvety grip. The fruit was subtle, more subtle than I expected from a young wine (and 2003 was a hot growing year for us here in California).

Red, red raspberries jumped out at me with some nice backbone of spice and herbs. As it "came around" in the glass, the texture stayed consisent, and the fruit gave way to more and more nuances of different hints of vanilla, warm spices, leather, and earthiness. This was one of those wines you did not want to put down, yet didn't want to finish too early, either. Although heartily I recommend it, I would also recommend not committing infanticide on it like we did and let it age a bit longer (2-3 years).

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• Category:Red Wine Reviews
• Category:Pinot Noir
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