Regular Price $70.00, Our is $64.99 with shipping included on 6 bottles or more       

Heidi, Dick and Holly Peterson

If you’re of a certain age, Dick Peterson is something of a Napa Valley icon. If you’re younger, though, and not as familiar with the Valley’s history, you might have, more likely, instead heard of his winemaker daughter Heidi. Yes, that Heidi Peterson. But, in his time, Dick was every bit as famous. With a passion for chemistry, he started his career in the late 1950s as the technical director of E & J Gallo until he was personally tabbed by Napa Valley icon Andre Tchelistcheff to replace him as winemaker at Beaulieu Vineyards where Dick made a series of legendary wines (ever taste the 1968 Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cab? He made it! ) before leaving to develop, among a score of other projects, The Monterey Vineyards, and later, with Piero Antinori, the massive Atlas Peak project. Several of his technological contributions to winemaking are still standards today. For instance, every time you see barrels full of wine stacked to the winery ceiling on sturdy metal racks, you’re looking at the Peterson Pallets he invented. Later in his life he made the debut wines at what would become three Napa Valley icons- Diamond Creek, Dalla Valle and Screaming Eagle- before passing the baton to daughter Heidi at the latter two. When it came time to retire from his many ventures, he naturally decided to plant a vineyard of his own, choosing the Santa Lucia Highlands he knew so well from his Monterey Vineyards days. Always the innovator, he chose to plant half the site to a Roman-era clone of Pinot Noir he discovered in and personally imported from rural Wrotham, England; the only such planting in the country; producing his first vintage of estate SLH Pinot Noir in 2013. Since then, his 500-case production of Pinot has earned an enviable reputation for its dark, savory, very suave flavors; all achieved at relatively moderate alcohols, in 2022, a relatively modest 13.8%. He calls the 2022 his favorite vintage to date and we love it too. It’s a spicy, really complex Pinot with a deep and solid core of cherry-strawberry like fruit with notes of fresh-turned earth, black and roasted green tea, fresh herbs and a great deal of Burgundy-like finesse on its super long finish. It’s been a while since we’ve tasted a California Pinot with this much distinctive flavor, polish and class and we thought you’d really enjoy having a few bottles around to serve with dishes based on wild mushrooms, a perfectly done duck breast with savory cherry sauce or, of course, any sort of grilled meat. It’s light enough on its feet for a grilled salmon too. Seems a bargain at this price!  

James Suckling: An elegant, spicy, floral wine made from a unique clone of pinot noir. Wild white strawberries, cinnamon bark, cardamom and potpourri. Balanced to a tee with 7 g/L of acidity and a light grip from crisp tannins. The wine’s namesake, Richard Peterson, brought the Wrotham clone from England. Drink now. 93 points