When this vineyard was planted? There were still sultans in Turkey. James Joyce had yet to invent the run-on sentence. And no one had ever water skied. From a CA wine drinker’s perspective, the 1910 planting of the Besson family vineyard was an equally epochal event. Many of the greatest winemakers in California now compete for access to these grapes -- and all of them make amazing wines. Birichino is one of the lucky few, and they use it to make one of the greatest $20-ish Californian Pinots we know. Light in hue, with notes of dried red berries, pomegranates, and toasted orange peel. (Almost priced right for 1910!)
