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The affable, understated Sean Capiaux has earned a very good living over the years making wine at some very high profile Napa Valley and Sonoma County wineries including the likes of Jordan, Pine Ridge and Peter Michael. His current day job is making the dramatic mountain Cabs of O’Shaughnessy on Howell Mountain.  But Sean’s real pride and joy, besides coaching lacrosse for his kids, of course, is creating the miniscule production of his own eponymous wines, all Pinot Noirs made from some of California’s most important vineyards.  Over the years that we’ve been associated with Sean’s wines (since his first vintage in 1994), despite making stellar wines from vineyards like Dutton-Widdoes, Gap’s Crown, Freestone, Floodgate and Pisoni, we keep gravitating back to his outstanding blended Pinot Noir- the wine he calls Chimera, the three-headed beast from Greek mythology.  In practice, though, it’s a four-headed one: In the 2022 vintage it’s younger vines from Widdoes and Starscape (formerly known as Floodgate) from the Russian River Valley and the iconic Pisoni and Garys’ in the Santa Lucia Highlands make small contributions as well. While all of Sean’s wines are noted for their elegance and elan, the Chimera is always a lot of wine for the money- a powerful (but graceful) Pinot with black cherries, plums and raspberries leading the way with purple florals, black tea, mulberry and a bit of sagebrush too.  Full on the palate, Sean values natural acidity, and this young Pinot has plenty of it, giving life to a rich but vibrant wine that will appreciate a few months to chill in your cellar before becoming a constant companion alongside things like lamb chops, peppery steaks, wild mushroom dishes, grilled salmon or, we confess, nothing at all!   This is certainly one of the best values in California Pinot Noir we see every year and it seems to get better every vintage we try!