A couple of weeks ago, I started this “Musgo Wednesday” theme. The concept came from our family “rule” that we try to clean out the fridge of any remaining leftovers–they “must go”. The goal was to carry this over to my wine writing as I have a slew of “leftover” wine tasting notes on my phone and I need to get them up on the site.
Great idea!
Thank you.
Well, this is now only the third week of this “Musgo Wednesday” and I have already screwed it up, to a certain extent. Two weeks ago, I published some notes from a wine dinner I hosted in May for James Hall from Patz & Hall Winery. I published my thoughts on the one sparkling and three Chardonnays that James poured at the event, with the idea that I would be back the following week (last week), with the notes from the four Pino Noirs that James poured that night.
Well, as happens all too often with my muddled mind, I completely forgot about the Patz & Hall sequel and started in on the first of a trilogy of Italian wines that were quasi-focused around the Giro d’Italia (which had concluded several weeks prior). Yeah. A lot of promises, procrastination, and pea-brained behavior to unpack there.
Anyway, as promised, here are the Pinots and a brief timeline of what happened with Patz & Hall over the last couple of decades.
James Hall and Donald Patz met while working at Flora Springs Winery in the 1980s. By 1988, they had opened Patz & Hall and quickly established the brand as a “cult” producer of high quality Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
In 2016, after nearly three decades of independent ownership, the pair decided to sell the brand to Chateau Set. Michelle Wine Estates, which had a broad distribution network and the ability to take Patz & Hall to a bigger audience. In 2021, Chateau Set. Michelle was acquired by a New York equity firm, which gradually began to sell off many of the Group’s smaller holdings, particularly those outside the state of Washington.
Thus, in 2024, James Hall and a small group of investors bought back the brand and have since reestablished the independent direction that initially brought Patz & Hall so much success. Here are the four Pinot Noirs that James brought to our house for our little group of Houston wine writers.
2023 Patz & Hall Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, CA: Retail $40. Heavy Bottle (611g; 21.5oz). Under DIAM10. Next to the Chardonnay, this is the second most important wine in the P & H lineup, with about 10k cases produced. At forty bucks retail, this is a solid effort and value, with great red berry fruit on the nose; in fact, this might have one of the fruitier noses on a Pinot that I have tried in a while. But it is certainly more than just all that lovely fruit with a bit of oak (100% Burgundian French oak barrels, 28% new), hints of violet, and a spicy note (clove?), which rounds out a fabulous nose. And that all continues onto the palate, where a unifying tartness helps to tame all of that fruit. Juicy, rich, but also layered and balanced, this really is a fantastic Pinot at any price. Excellent. 92 Points.
2022 Patz & Hall Pinot Noir Hyde Vineyard, Carneros, CA: Retail $75. Heavy Bottle (674g; 23.7oz). Under DIAM10. 100% Burgundian French oak barrels (45% New, 55% 1 & 2 year old). All 3-year air-dried staves. So. James Hall was over for dinner, and we tasted through eight of his wines: 1 Sparkling, 3 Chards, 4 Pinots. All were stellar, all were different, and all had a few common threads. This Hyde Pinot had medium color in the glass with a classic fruity Pinot nose of red berry fruit (tons of cherry), a touch of black pepper, dark/red flower (violet?), a splash of oak, and a healthy dose of vanilla. Yum. The palate? Many of those same characteristics persist and even expand, along with a distinct tartness and considerable depth and a flinty note on the mid-palate. This is decidedly a step above the Sonoma Coast, but also clearly part of the same wonderful family. Outstanding. 94 Points.
2022 Patz & Hall Pinot Noir, Pisoni Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands, CA: Retail $75. Heavy Bottle (679g; 23.9oz). Under DIAM10. This is now the third Pinot that I tried from Patz & Hall when James Hall came over for dinner, and this is another in a series of single-vineyard Pinots that define the Patz & Hall portfolio. The nose of this beauty is loaded with Black Cherry, bits of black pepper, a floral note, and just a hint of heat (15.0% ABV). The palate is pretty close to incredible, with all of that dark cherry fruit, a touch of dark earth, a surprising chalkiness on the finish, and an overall verve that leaves me wanting more, even considerably more. Outstanding. 95 Points.
2022 Patz & Hall Pinot Noir Gap’s Crown Vineyard, Sonoma Coast, CA: Retail $75. Heavy Bottle (673g; 23.7oz). Under DIAM10. This was the fourth and last bottle of Pinot that we tried when James Hall came over for dinner.; we started with a sparkling, then three Chardonnays, before the Pinots. While there is little doubt that I preferred the Pisoni Pinot, this Gap’s Crown came in a solid second (third?)place and is perhaps the darkest of the three in the glass with rich, dark fruit aromas. Not so much cherry here as black raspberry, plum, and blackberry, much more Merlot or even Cabernet-like in profile. The palate, however, underscores why this is unmistakably a Pinot: the acid. Yeah, this has all the acidity that one expects in a Pinot (and then some?). Tart, fruity, a tad dark, with earth and chutzpah; yeah, this will work. Whoa. Outstanding. 94 Points.
the drunken cyclist 