2012 Black Kite “Kite’s Rest” Pinot Noir

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$50 (retail) Wine Club pricing reflected in receipt

Here’s a blast from the past.  Some of you may be aware that I (gary) spent my first career (where I actually made money) in the telecom industry.  I moved to California in 1999 as an advertising sales manager for a telecom magazine just as the industry was exploding (following a few years later by an implosion).  Anyway, among my best customers was a firm that produced sophisticated digital gear called Advanced Fiber Communications in Petaluma.  One of the founders was Donald Green, and now we’re both in the wine biz.

These days, Green is retired from telecom; he segued into the wine industry when he purchased land in 1995 that is now the site of Kite’s Rest Vineyard, the source of fruit for the winery he operates–Black Kite Cellars–with his daughter and son-in-law, Rebecca Green Birdsall and Tom Birdsall.

Rebecca, who has an MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College, oversees not only the business side, but she’s also intimately involved in the grape growing and winemaking.  Two other family members, William’s daughter Victoria Green Comfort and grandson Michael Green both work in the business.

Consulting winemaker is Jeff Gaffner who got his start in 1981 at Chateau St. Jean.  He was on the winemaking team that produced the 1996 Cinq Cepages, a red blend was named the Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator magazine.

Winery Tasting Notes:  “One of our most striking Kite’s Rest bottlings, the 2012 opens with sweet dark fruit and brown spice aromatics, with just a hint of coffee and crème. The palate is saturated with sweet cherry and wild berry flavors lifted by polished, fine grained tannins that cradle the supple flavors through the extremely long finish. Young upon release, it will benefit from time in the cellar and decanting before serving. Cellar for up to 5-7 years.”

Blend:  100% pinot noir

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