Solano Cellars
Friday, July 12th from 5-8pm
Flight of 6 for $25 ($15 Club)
.
In the north, vineyards line the base of the alpine expanse, their soils rich in limestone. As you venture further south, the limestone turns to gravelly riverbed, and the mountains empty into a low-lying plain, where the system of waterways that snake throughout moderates the temperature in the vineyards planted there. Collectively, this stretch of land is as suited for the cultivation of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and aromatic varieties as just about anywhere in the world. It isn't Burgundy; it isn't anywhere in the Loire; it's not even in Europe. This is North Canterbury, New Zealand, a sweeping 200km region that runs along the South Island's eastern shore, linking the Southern Alps to the Pacific Ocean, and where Theo Coles has been producing the stunning, singular wines of Hermit Ram for more than a decade.
.
When Theo was invited to the Limestone Hills vineyard in the Waipara Gorge in 2012, with its 1000 Pinot Noir vines planted on active limestone soil, and was asked to help the vineyard owner to make wine for the vintage, his first thought was only, "at least I’ll have some decent Pinot to drink..." Because for all the perfect conditions for Pinot Noir cultivation in the region, he had found himself frustrated by how little the wines coming from Canterbury tasted like the terroir they were pulled from. And Limestone Hills was, in his estimation, a perfect vineyard, with terroir well worth highlighting - a tiny, closely planted vineyard, treated with no sprays, and marked by a unique composition of limestone rocks and clay marl. As that first vintage evolved, fermented slowly and with no additions, matured in neutral oak hogsheads, it would provide Theo with the revelation that was the impetus for Hermit Ram - if this mix of savory fruit aromatics and salivating acidity is what North Canterbury terroir was capable of, it was too exceptional to continue to go unnoticed.
.
Today, Hermit Ram has expanded beyond Pinot Noir to include Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Muller Thurgau, and more, from tiny, naturally farmed vineyards throughout the Canterbury region of New Zealand, and each with its own story to tell. On Friday, we'll have a lineup of wines that showcase the range of what this region is capable of - from balanced, textured Sauvignon Blanc to saline-laden white blends, juicy red field blends to elegantly nuanced Pinot Noir, and the quirky co-ferments and one-of-a-kind bubbles that only Theo could have dreamed up.
.
*No reservations necessary
