2012 KISTLER OCCIDENTAL "SWK VINEYARD" PINOT NOIR "As good as the Cuvée Catherine is, there is another Occidental Pinot that is also profound. The 2012 Pinot Noir SWK Vineyard also comes from his 65 acres planted in Occidental. This is a 1,000-case cuvée from a site that sits above the Bodega Headlands Vineyard. With a dark ruby color like its siblings, it is made from 100% Calera and sees only about 30% new French oak. This wine offers a copious mouthful of red, blue and black fruits, medium to full body, terrific acidity, and intense black raspberry and black cherry fruit along with spring flowers, forest floor and spice box. This is a stunning, super-complex, compelling Pinot Noir to drink over the next decade or more. Steve Kistler's new Pinot Noir project from his 65 acres in the very cool-climate of the Sonoma Coast area is starting off with enormous potential and promise. These wines are primarily made from the Calera clone of Pinot Noir. He is able to achieve terrific ripeness and relatively low brix numbers, so alcohol-phobes among readers will be pleased to know that the alcohols of these wines run in the low range, between 13.6 to 14.2, yet the wines are very powerful, rich, concentrated and intense." - 98 points, Robert M. Parker, Jr.