Beverage of the Week (BOW)

Product Story

This is the 12th vintage of Tongue Dancer Wines’ Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, and as always, it’s an impressive glass of Pinot Noir and our favorite since the fantastic 2020 vintage. We have reviewed every vintage since 2015, and while each wine is unique and always an expression of the vintage, each respective wine has scored 94 points or better. How’s that for consistency? In 2023, as in 2021 and 2022, most of the fruit was sourced from the Putnam Vineyard on the West Sonoma Coast, with a small amount of fruit also coming from the Notre Vue Vineyard in Chalk Hill. The berries were gently de-stemmed and not crushed. It was fermented in small, open-top fermenters, with the cap punched down by hand three times a day. Post-fermentation, the wine was aged in French oak (20% new) on its lees for a period of 14 months. It was bottled unfined and lightly filtered on December 1, 2024. We love this wine and can easily envision the scores rising with a bit of cellaring.

Brand Story

Tongue Dancer Wines is the creation of James and Kerry MacPhail. If you are a California Pinot Noir lover, you likely know James' previous work with MacPhail Family Wines. James knows how to make amazing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and James knows a lot of people who grow spectacular Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. We have been reviewing the wines from Tongue Dancer for the better part of a decade and have never seen a Tongue Dancer Wine fail to earn Four-Stars or better. Tongue Dancer constantly innovates, releasing new wines yearly while never missing a beat. Once, they surprised us by releasing a great, dry cider! This is a winery to watch. The wines are always in short supply, so be swift. Visit their website and join their mailing list to get direct access to their wines.