This Week's Tasting
Failla Pinot Noir and Chardonnays with Winemaker Ehren Jordan
March 4, 2025
A decade ago, the San Francisco Chronicle named him their California Winemaker of the Year, praising him for his "intellectual honesty about California wines." In our office at 1 State Street, 10th Floor...
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This Week Tuesday, March 4, 2025 Failla Pinot Noir & Chardonnays with Winemaker Ehren Jordan In-store, 5 - 6:30pm
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Winemaker Ehren Jordan became famous as a long-term winemaker at Turley Vineyards, where he made heavier-bodied zinfandels. When asked what he drank at home, he replied Beaujolais and ethereal Austrian whites.
The wines he and his wife make under the Failla label are very much in that spirit. Although in warmer climates, their aim and achievement are delicacy and character.
A decade ago, the San Francisco Chronicle named him their California Winemaker of the Year, praising him for his "intellectual honesty about California wines," meaning he knew how to make big wines from hotter regions and fine wines from cooler.
He left Turley in 2013 to devote full time to his projects, including Failla, which he had already started in 1998. Although based in Napa's St. Helena, the wines he makes under the Failla label are all cooler climate interpretations
Ehren Jordan coaxes out their various incarnations by subjecting them to different climates—from cool to cooler to the coolest—distinct soil types and diverse rootstock.
He is discerning when choosing the origins of Jhis grapes. Leading him to distinctive, cool-climate Pinot Noir sources has propelled him to broaden his sources as far as Willamette Valley, Oregon.
Whatever their source, Failla wines are distinguished by their purity and balance of expression. They don't shout; they murmur. The wines are not orchestral\; Jordan plays his grapes like a piano solo. As you will taste, he is very, very good at that.
White
2022 Failla Chardonnay Sonoma Coast
Unlike the Chardonnays that give up balance trying to be Burgundy, this suggests a California parallel to Chablis, with both acidity and a touch of minerality but a distinctly West Coast ripe pure fruit.
Aroma: light, pretty, very fresh with notes of Meyer lemon and mineral, a touch of grass; Mouth: very clean, fresh and pure, underlined by nicely integrated minerality, fine and long, beautifully poised; Very Good - Excellent $40; Case, $34
2021 Failla Chardonnay Platt Vineyard
A year older and from the cool Petaluma Gap, this is bigger and rounded with a bit more well-integrated oak
Aroma: very pretty intense, very fine, saline, green, lime and a touch of melon, fresh; Mouth: low toned broad, and low toned, the suggestion of barrel or wood notes in a ripe and poised whole; Very Good - Excellent $64; Case, $54
Red
2023 Failla Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast
Youthful, with lots of substance and darker fruit notes, it is satisfying now but will be better in the next two years
Color: very dark; Aroma: deep and heady, dark plum and cherry, heady and full, slightly later elegant sculpted; Mouth: firm, deep dark, poised, very pure and rounded fine dark length, firm smooth textured with light tannins, pure; Very Good - Excellent $44; Case, $37
2022 Failla Pinot Noir Lola Vineyard
Very light and delicate,
"A very expressive nose with aromas of crushed raspberry, sassafras, and violets jumps from the glass of this Pinot. The palate is layered and juicy, with flavors of fresh, ripe strawberry, Amarena cherry, and cocoa mingling for over a minute. It's a wine built for richer game-bird courses or mushroom-laden pasta". Very Good - Excellent $56; Case, $47.6
2022 Failla Pinot Noir Patton Vineyard
Elegant and impeccably balanced, This Oregon Pinot is as articulated as a fine burgundy
Color: medium dark; Mouth: clean, smooth, pretty dark-hued fine acid; elegant, more than robust, long; Excellent $53; Case, $45
2022 Failla Pinot Noir Savoy Vineyard
With its dark fruit and bracing acidity, this shows the potential of Anderson Valley, long a backwater, to be a significant area for Pinot Noir
Aroma: lightly saline, rounded spice, very good thrust, acid spice over deep plum, heady and ripe dark toned; Mouth: dark, smooth textured, precise, poised in a low register, good weight, fine acid tannins, a lot of potential here; Excellent $75; Case, $63.75
Failla Sampler , one each of the bottles $282
Mix any six or more wines at their case prices
After our tasting, Ehren will be conducting a dinner with different wines
at Alcove Restaurant
Contact them to reserve
Order by phone at 617.367.8605, or reserve here: order@federalwine.com
Please pass this on to any friends who are wine enthusiasts!
- Len Rothenberg
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