Mayacama Wine Offer - Black Kite Cellars

Black Kite Cellars is a small, family owned and operated winery, dedicated to producing the finest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay using the best growing and winemaking practices applied to vineyards ideally situated for these classic Burgundian varietals. Mayacama Vintner members Rebecca and Tom Birdsall, Don Green’s daughter and son-inlaw, fell in love with the wines and life-style of Burgundy during a bike tour. They believed they could apply the Burgundian terroir oriented approach in California and created Black Kite Cellars in 2003. The Kite, Don’s favorite bird, can be seen gracefully hovering over Mayacama in search of prey.

The winemaking team features Jeff Gaffner, owner and winemaker at Saxon Brown, one of the stars of the California wine scene. Jeff has become one of the most sought after consulting winemakers for artisan labels, having gained critical acclaim and a loyal following for his site-specific focus and restrained winemaking style. The Wall Street Journal has said that they “love his vineyard voice”, while the Wine Spectator has lauded his winemaking as “deft”. He was named winemaker of the year in 1999 and is featured in the May 31st issue of the Wine Spectator.

Their mix of vineyards and styles offer wine drinkers an enticing menu with wines to drink and cellar now. Black Kite’s vineyard sources include the Anderson Valley in Mendocino, Sonoma Coast and the Santa Lucia Highlands. Their wines are vibrant, with intense character and they show the power and elegance.

Chardonnay:

Black Kite loves the crisp minerality of Burgundian Chardonnays. Mersault wines are their inspiration. They have designed their California Chardonnays to reflect the characteristics of these lovely wines. To achieve their flavor profile, they start with selecting vineyards from cool climates with strong wind signatures. Their Chardonnays come from the Sierra Mar and the Soberanes Vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands appellation, and from Gap’s Crown Vineyard in the Sonoma Coast appellation.

They follow what happens in Burgundy by taking their wine through a slow and cold primary fermentation, delaying the fermentation as long as possible through the fall and winter seasons, followed by malolactic fermentation in the spring. They start by harvesting the grapes in the early morning hours and transporting them immediately to the winery. The grapes are cold pressed and cold settled overnight before being inoculated at a low rate with Burgundian yeast. The wine is sur lie aged in barrels and then experiences full secondary malolactic fermentation in the spring. We use a mix of new and one-year old French oak barrels from the Allier, Vosages, Troncais and Bertranges forests. The wines are bottled unfined. The results are wines that have bright uplifting acids, well-structured mouth feel, wonderful phenolics and creamy finishes. Hazelnut and almonds and many citrus and tropical flavors prevail.

2015 Chardonnay, Sierra Mar Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands
The allure of the 2015 Sierra Mar Vineyard Chardonnay is revealed immediately in its heady mix of white peach, nectarine and tropical aromatics. The palate unfurls in generous waves of guava, kiwi and honeydew melon balanced by bright acidity and lifted through the seriously long finish by the wine’s elegant, mountain-grown structure.

2015 Chardonnay, Soberanes Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands
Complex with lithe structure, the 2015 Soberanes Vineyard Chardonnay promises to be the best aging Santa Lucia Highlands Chardonnay Black Kite has made to date. There’s lots to love here, from the fig, green apple, oyster shell and wet stone minerality that highlight the nose and palate, to the bright acidity and seamlessly integrated oak that provide lift to the mouthfilling fruit and linger, with a touch a minerality on the persistent finish.

2015 Chardonnay, Gap’s Crown Vineyard, Sonoma Coast
One of their more concentrated Chardonnays, the 2015 Gap’s Crown opens with enticing citrus, white blossom, pineapple and white peach aromatics. The lush palate broadens the primary citrus and pineapple notes with mouth filling hazelnut, almond paste, sweet oak and baked apple flavors that linger on the extremely long finish.

Pinot Noir

Black Kite produces three Pinot Noirs from two vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands appellation, two vineyards in the Sonoma Coast Appellation and five Pinot Noirs from their Estate Vineyard in the Anderson Valley, “Kite’s rest”. Vineyard blocks are specifically chosen and farmed to capture aromas, flavors, complexity, a wonderful mixture of fruit flavors and age worthiness. Production from each vineyard is small allowing the winemaker to concentrate on each vineyard, producing great wines.

2015 Pinot Noir, Redwoods Edge, Estate Vineyard, Anderson Valley
Boasting beautiful acid lift, the 2015 Redwoods’ Edge Pinot Noir is one of the most food-friendly wines yet from this vineyard. To begin, the aromatics – which are typically the hallmark of this particular block given its altitude and clonal mix – are particularly striking with this vintage. Lush violet, rose potpourri, raspberry, alpine strawberry and clove intensify on the palate, joined by cinnamon, cedar and sweet vanillin notes. The rich, textural mouthfeel is buoyed by bright, food-friendly acidity and nuanced by a sweet white chocolate impression that emerges on the finish.

2015 Pinot Noir, Stoney Terrace, Estate, Anderson Valley
The 2015 Stony Terrace Pinot Noir is very dark, very rich and very long! The wine’s concentrated dark fruit core gains incredible richness and complexity as it opens, unfurling in layers of sweet plum, cola, cassis, dark chocolate, spice and sweet pipe tobacco flavors that coalesce on the generous palate and linger on the very long finish.

2015 Pinot Noir, Soberanes Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands
Our 2015 Soberanes Vineyard Pinot Noir displays the dark viscous fruit and earthy, forest floor character that are signatures of this historic land grant site. Ripe plum, bottle brush, mushroom and coffee notes are joined on the palate by hints of coffee and tar. Round and mouthfilling the wine’s dark intensity persists through its uniquely long and woodsy finish.

2015 Pinot Noir, Gap’s Crown Vineyard, Sonoma Coast
Perhaps their darkest and most intense Pinot of the vintage, the 2015 Gap’s Crown Vineyard Pinot Noir delivers a rich core of black cherry, blackberry, pipe tobacco and sweet oak. With a little time in the glass, the wine develops even more richness, evoking fresh baked cherry pie, molasses and allspice aromas and flavors. This is a deeply flavorful and complex Pinot Noir with incredible concentration and length.

The Offer

2015 Chardonnay, Sierra Mar Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands - $48

2015 Chardonnay, Gap’s Crown Vineyard, Sonoma Coast - $58

2015 Chardonnay, Sobranes Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands - $48

2015 Pinot Noir, Redwoods Edge, Estate Vineyard, Anderson Valley - $60

2015 Pinot Noir, Stoney Terrace, Estate, Anderson Valley - $60

2015 Pinot Noir, Soberanes Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands - $58

2015 Pinot Noir, Gap’s Crown Vineyard, Sonoma Coast - $60

Jeff McCarthy, Wine Director 
[email protected]
707.569.2906