The 2015 Pinot Noir Bodega Headlands is the richest, deepest, and most concentrated in the lineup. It offers slightly more black fruit as well as hints of graphite, cassis, flowers, and forest floor/leafy herbs. It still shows the more fresh and lively style of the Sonoma Coast, with brilliant acidity, yet it hits the palate with an incredible amount of beautiful fruit, plenty of tannins, and a layered, complex style that keeps you coming back to the glass. As with the other releases here, it needs a year or two of bottle age. Occidental Wines is the new project of Steve Kistler focusing on two sites located south of the town of Occidental, in the Bodega Headlands. These are higher elevation sites not far off the Pacific Ocean that were first planted early in the 2000s all to Pinot Noir. Despite the cooler climate nature of the sites, these are rich, powerful wines that have incredible aromatics and seamless, silky textures. These are undeniably some of the top wines in this report.

The 2015 Pinot Noir Bodega Headlands Cuvée Elizabeth is precise, nuanced and every bit as riveting from bottle as it was from barrel. Above all else, the Bodega Headlands deftly balances tension and fruit intensity. A burst of sweet red cherry, blood orange, mint and raspberry jam infuse this beautifully layered, nuanced Pinot Noir. Bright saline notes punctuate the super-expressive finish. Even in 2015 the Cuvée Elizabeth remains pointed and intensely mineral. What a gorgeous wine it is.

Medium ruby-purple in color, the 2015 Pinot Noir Bodega Headlands Cuvee Elizabeth opens with a profoundly earthy nose, revealing notes of underbrush, fungi, fertile loam and black truffles over a core of crushed black cherries, raspberry preserves and wild strawberries with touches of star anise and black pepper. Medium-bodied with compelling tension between the wildly intense red and black fruit flavors and the incredible freshness, it has a taut, finely grained frame and long mineral-tinged finish.

Big, bold cherry fruit on the nose with thickly layered fruit on the palate that reminds me somewhat of fig paste, oddly. There’s rhubarb and cranberry here too, and every indication that more will emerge with time. (RH)