2020 St. Reginald Parish The Marigny Carbonic Pinot Noir

Region: Willamette Valley < Oregon

Grapes: Pinot Noir Vineyard/Cellar Stats: From the Sisu Vineyard, which is 1 year into Organic certification); marine sediment, volcanic soils;14-day whole bunch carbon fermentation in stainless steel. Fruit pressed off and juice fermented to dryness in a separate tank. Filtered only to separate out large solids and bottled without sulfur and no fining; 75 cases; 13% ABV

Winemaker: Andrew Reginald Young

NEW VINTAGE ALERT!  2020 is here!  A refresher: Andrew Young, the son of a preacher man from New Orleans, started as a musician but later caught the wine bug. This happens a lot in the world of natural wine. In 2007 he immersed himself in Willamette Valley’s natty winemaking scene, then launched The Marigny label (a nod to that neighborhood in the French Quarter known for its live music). All fruit is sourced from friends with old, established sites – an important point, as access to top quality fruit means he doesn’t need to do much in the winery. Bootstrapping things together, he started with a press he rented from a beer store and would use his friend’s meat fridge to cold soak. Things have evolved a tiny bit from there, but Andy intends to keep things simple and small. In fact, he makes tiny quantities (75 cases here), so we’re super excited to get our hands on 4 cases of this neon-red, extremely gulp-able Pinot. Going down, it’s all sour cherry and blood orange with the texture of Jello – no sharp edges, softly spicy, and a bit squishy, in the very best way. A little Campari on the finish. Outrageously good. Wish there was more, but this is it. So…if you love it, act fast, get your bad self a small stash to ration out now that warm weather is setting in.  Chilled, of course.