Paul Hobbs, West Sonoma Coast (South America) Pinot Noir 2021

  Perhaps because the region is so large, there has been an outpouring of Sonoma Coast Pinots in recent years, and many have been big wines with great flavors but with clinging, grapey, almost syrupy finishes.  It is one thing to have a wine that whispers back to you after you swallow, but another to have it shouting, “I don’t want to go.”  Fortunately, Paul Hobbs has never saddled himself to pre-ordained styles but rather concentrates on listening to what the grapes have to say.  With this wine, we are struck first by a fresh and lean but not tangy approach, yet with very concentrated fruit, mainly small, ripe blackberries.  The oak is so integrated you barely notice it, and the tannins are there, but you have to think to notice them.  There are no cola or rooty flavors that often typify Pinot – in fact, the flavors are similar in intensity to those of Grenache, a characterization Hobbs would probably not like or agree with.  Overall, it is a very enjoyable and very well-structured wine, one that you would gladly have a second glass should the food be slow in reaching tableside.