LaRue Wines’ Katy Wilson’s been focused on the craft of winemaking since her first year at Cal Poly seventeen years ago. After graduating with degrees in Winemaking & Viticulture and Ag business, she worked at numerous, highly respected wineries here and abroad. They include Joseph Phelps (Napa Valley), Torbreck (Barossa Valley, AU), Craggy Range (Hawkes Bay, NZ), plus Banshee and Flowers Winery (Sonoma Coast). Jon Bonné included her in his 2013 list of “winemakers to watch” for the SF Chronicle.

Katy Wilson, winemaker/owner of LaRue Wines

Katy founded her own label, LaRue Wines, in 2009. There, she specializes in Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. In addition to LaRue, she’s winemaker for several other brands. They include Anaba Wines, Claypool Cellars (in conjunction with Ross Cobb with whom she often works), Smith-Story Wine Cellars, and Reeve Wines.

I visited with Katy at one of the vineyards she uses for LaRue, Emmaline Ann, and we tasted through a number of her wines on a very rainy, winter day.

2016 LaRue Chardonnay Charles Heintz Vineyard 93+ 14.2% 750ml Allocation

A golden-colored Chardonnay with appetizing aromas of poached yellow apple, baking spice, and pear. It’s juicy on the palate with medium-plus body, fine-grained texture and rich, long-lasting flavors which echo the nose, then shift toward mineral at the finish.

The Wente clone Chardonnay, planted in 1982, grows at 900 feet on Goldridge Sandy Loam, just east of Occidental. ML was 50%. The wine spent 17 months in once-used French oak. 50 cases made.

2015 LaRue Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 91+ 13.0% 750ml $60

The nose is pretty—red cherry, tea, and dried rose petals. The red-fruited palate has medium-body, vivid acidity and light, fine-grained texture. It’s a very good wine, but will be better with a couple more years in the cellar.

This AVA-blend is all from the Rice-Spivak and Thorn Ridge Vineyards. Katy ferments all the clones (Swan, Dijon, Pommard, and 115) separately. She blends four to five months before bottling and wants the final wine’s personality to be bright and a little more fruit-forward than the single-vineyard wines. She made 240 cases of the 2015.

2014 LaRue Pinot Noir Emmaline Ann Vineyard, Sonoma Coast 92+ 12.5% 750ml Allocation

In the glass, the wine looks almost like rosé. Katy tells me the vineyard, with its cool climate and frequent fog, always delivers pale wines. And I’ve found that lightly colored still Pinot packs plenty of flavor more often than not. That’s true here. The wine is elegant and precise, but not shy. It’s medium-bodied in the mouth and gently mouthwatering with fine grained tannins framing pot pourri, baking spice, dried flowers, and pomegranate.

Emmaline Ann Vineyard is about seven miles from the ocean, not far from the hamlet of Freestone. Planted in 2001, the three acres are all Dijon 115 and 777 planted at 800′ on Goldridge Sandy Loam. 70 cases.

2015 LaRue Pinot Noir Thorn Ridge 93 12.9% 750ml $70

Aromas and flavors are cranberry, tea, dried flowers, and strawberry with good intensity on the nose and even more intensity on the long palate. Medium-plus body and lightly watering with tannins that start out chalky and finish with fine grain.

This wine comes from the oldest blocks of Thorn Ridge Vineyard, which is located a short distance west of Sebastopol. The clones are 115 and Pommard. 100 cases.

2014 LaRue Pinot Noir Rice Spivak Vineyard Sonoma Coast 93+ 12.9% 750ml Allocation

The nose is alive with sweet red cherry, sweet spice, tangerine pith and strawberry. In the, the wine’s medium-bodied with very fine-grained, integrated tannins and refreshing acidity. Flavors resemble the nose with a greater emphasis on the cherry and strawberry fruit.

The Rice-Spivak Vineyard is a 6-acre parcel planted just south of Sebastopol in 1999. The soil is largely Goldridge Sandy Loam, common to the area, but also has a good bit of volcanic ash running through it. The clones in this wine are Swan, 115, and 667. The wine aged 20 months in French oak, 33% new. 100 cases.

2015 LaRue Pinot Noir Rice Spivak Vineyard Sonoma Coast 93+ 12.8% 750ml $70

The delicate nose offers drying leaves, dewy flowers, light spice, and ripe raspberry. The palate, is still tightly wound and promises more, but the core of juicy raspberry and flowers is already irrepressible. Structure comes from moderate, fine-grained tannins, with a hint of chalk. Drink 2020-2030.

Clones and winemaking/aging regime were the same for the 2015 as the 2014. However, the vintage was very different. 2014 was yet another drought year, while 2015 began with torrential rains that resulted in floods like those we’ve had just this past week. Some vineyards saw substantial reduction in yield due to shatter and LaRue wasn’t able to make a 2015 Emmaline Ann, but Katy was able to get 150 cases out of Rice-Spivak.

2014 LaRue Coastlands Vineyard 94 13.5% 750ml Allocation

The Coastlands Vineyard belongs to Ross Cobb’s family. The soils are uplifted seabed, complete with fossils. It’s a high altitude (900-1,200 feet) vineyard, close and direct exposed to the ocean. Most of the fruit goes to Cobb wines, but Katy got enough to make 50 cases. (Only 5 cases were left when I tasted. Act fast.) The fermentation of Martini, Pommard, and Wadenswil included 15% whole cluster. The wine aged 32 months in barrel, 50% new.

Complex and darker than some of the other wines, flint leads the aromas and flavors. Black cherry, grilled orange, maraschino, spice, and leather quickly follow. Body is medium and the very long palate is simultaneously delicate and structured. The very fine-grained and chalky texture is balanced by generous acidity. Superb.

This was my first, focused tasting with Katy. But I have previously give the wines high ratings based on West of West and In Pursuit of Balance tastings.

Copyright Fred Swan 2019. Photos courtesy LaRue Wines. All rights reserved.