Occidental (Kistler), Bodega Headlands Vineyard Cuvee Elizabeth, Sonoma Coast

Similar to the 8/21/25 bottle.

2013 vintage

Purrrfect with iberico pork chops!

2013 vintage

Medium red color. Aromas of pomegranate , violets and wood spices. Ripe, well-integrated rust in the mouth with excellent depth and length. Nicely supple and long on the palate. Still very fresh at 12 years of age.

2013 vintage

Continuos notes of cherry cola and bright red fruits.

2013 vintage

Wow! An explosion of flavors!

2011 vintage

Popped and poured. At first this is a little carbonic tasting. After about 30 minutes it unfolds into gorgeous red fruited pinot. Cherry, herbs and spice come through. Medium bodied, very good balance, developing complexity, elegant and smooth. Impressive to see how these can age.

2011 vintage

A wonderful wine. Dark fruit, earthy, quite full bodied Pinot, well balanced. Best new world Pinot I’ve had. Not past it’s drinking window as CT would say. Superb.

2011 vintage

Unfortunately still performing like I've been experiencing with these wines.. a bit bitter and one note. I'm guess too young still? Which is surprising for a California Pinot. Most high endl Pinots I have had recently (2013 Cirq, 2014 Aubert, etc) were entering a beautiful stage of development but these just seem to be so high in acid that it's a long term play? Was Steve trying to create a slice of burgundy here is Cali and looking for a …

2013 vintage

honestly a little to big and brutish for my tastes (I like burgundy more that most Cali pinots... exceptions include Arcadian pinots and older Calera pinots)... others would like it more but I gave it 89 pts

2011 vintage

Full bodied

2013 vintage

Similar to the 5/8/21 bottle…drink up!

2011 vintage

Tried to open a 2010 Kistler vineyard and the cork was leaking. Then opened this and it’s mediocre. Now I’m depressed. It’s not bad, by any measure. Very tart cherry, blood orange, and tobacco forward. Clearly from a cooler year and/or site. Don’t love it. Catherine and Natalie were 100x better. This is mediocre for being Kistler/Occidental. Unusually high amount of sediment. Bottom of the barrel?!?

2011 vintage

This was just phenomena tonight So sorry is my last bottle

2011 vintage

Dark almost black red color, mostly mixed black berries nose which evolves with time, rich dense full bodied dark berry fruit with prominent cranberry type acidity, a bit of spice and minerals with a long smooth finish. These wines have many years to go.

2011 vintage

First bottle of the 2011 Elizabeth that we have opened, and it was drinking very well. Lots of fruit in the nose. black cherries, currants, and black raspberry, along with floral, and hints of spice and minerality. Rich concentrated flavor, nice acidity, medium bodied, very well balanced, and a very long finish. A perfect match with grilled pork chops.

2011 vintage

So very rich and smooth.

2013 vintage

Starts out like a strawberry bomb. Settles down after ~2 hours and picks up some depth and forest floor. Nice, but definitely California.

2013 vintage

One of the best American pinots we've tasted, fully mature, on a par with the best of Burgundy, with similar style to Dujac. Deep ruby-garnet, slightly translucent. Very pronounced aromas of black raspberries, black cherries, plums, slight earthiness. On the palate, started out light but built over several hours to be full-bodied but also very soft and round, beautifully balanced, with soft tannins and good acidity. The flavors are sweet black cherry and plums. Very long aftertaste, alcoholic heat just …

2013 vintage

Quite Dry when first opened. balanced, some minerals

2011 vintage

This was tainted with barnyard smells

2011 vintage

Amazing after being open an hour. Beautiful!!

2011 vintage

Black cherry and currant headline, with a small measure of forest floor and some light spice to finish it. Medium-bodied, sappy and pliant, with good depth of fruit. The fruit depth without the sensation of weight was where this wine shines. Overall, a nicely balanced wine where nothing stood out or "popped" as my building contractor likes to say.

2013 vintage

similar aromas to the 4/12/20 bottle but much more closed, less rich and shallower on the palate.

2011 vintage

Slow oxed for an hour and that seems to get it in the right place. The nose unfurls beautifully with notes of raspberry, pomegranate and camphor coming through. The wine strikes a good balance between ripe black and red fruits, and interesting savoury nuances without ever feeling overdone. I’ve had this wine a few times but this was my best encounter.

2011 vintage

Popped and poured. After about twenty minutes this has a pretty attractive nose of rose, cherry and a little earth. The palate is medium bodied with flavors of dark cherry, raspberry, herbs and forest floor. Something about the integration of this wine isn’t quite there- it doesn’t quite integrate smoothly in the mid palate and the finish is a little lightweight. These are not serious issues but they impact my rating a bit.

2011 vintage

Popped and poured. The nose is fantastic with plum, smoke, and mushrooms coming through. The wine is medium bodied and fully mature but it feels a little flat and surprisingly for this name lacking a bit of fruit concentration. The palate shows a strong impact of the use of whole clusters with flavors of mushrooms, brambles coming through alongside the plummy fruit flavors but the fruit is quite restrained - too restrained- almost in the background. Maybe I should have …

2011 vintage

Gu

2011 vintage

Perfect balance. The nose is all red fruit just ripe strawberries and cranberries. Crunchy plate with great texture and finesse. World class Pinot.

2013 vintage

Didn’t show as well as usual, didn’t try them together, but 2 nights ago had the 2011 Catherine and by memory it was much better. The E was a bit flat, less vibrant fruit compared to the C.

2011 vintage

Deep red/violet color. Aromas of black cherries, raspberries, mushroom and oak spices. Ripe, intense fruit in the mouth with excellent depth and length. Full and lingering on the palate. Like other Occidental’s this wine was very reduced on opening and took a lot of swirling and air to open up. Once there, it was a delicious wine in the second half of its peak drinking period.

2011 vintage

Improved over the past 3-1/2 years to a much more complex wine. Deep, rich nose of mushroom and damp forest. Taste is earthy with just a little bit of sweetness on the entry. Finish is on the short side but without and funk/sour flavor. This wine once again shows that the much-maligned 2011 vintage had more than a few gems, as long as you have patience.

2011 vintage

New Years Eve (Rocknroller's (Kevin & Vicki's Place)) : Dark red color. PNP, drank a glass over an hour. Sweet black cherry, cherry cola, blackberry, pepper, a little herbal. The palate is full bodied, ripe raspberry, cherry cola, very peppery, green herbs, bold tannins.

2013 vintage

Chemical hit on the noise immediately. But blows off in a great way to showcase some oyster shell, cranberry, pomegranate, dried rose petal. Mouthfeel is classic 2011, not too weighty, M+ acid with nice tannins to give the wine great length. Whole cluster?

2011 vintage

Brought to the K&L Bistro in Sebastopol by my good friend Robert. Cherry colour. Beautiful nose with excellent balance of fruit, cherries, strawberries, raspberries. A rich palate, red berries, developed well over 1 hour. Excellent wine. Went well with the steaks. Thanks, Robert, for sharing it with us.

2013 vintage

The wine looks ruby colored. The legs are medium. There is no sediment in the bottle. It smells like strawberry jam, cranberry, cherry, forest floor and light toast. It tastes like strawberry jam, cherry, light toast, dust and forest floor. The body is medium. The wine has angular texture. The wine finishes long. The wine has high acidity.

2013 vintage

I intentionally bought the 2011 to try so it would hopefully have a bit of restraint but this didn't totally tame the beast. This is still a big an obviously Cali pinot but it does have enough balancing acidity to mostly keep it together. Dark and concentrated fruit - very dark cherry, raspberry, pomegranate. I can see where if you are into the style it's a winner. Just losing it's appeal to me. Good but a bit exhausting. Had a …

2011 vintage

Best wine ever. Amazing!!

2013 vintage

Breath taking wine.

2013 vintage

limited notes, but by memory i think i like the catherine better. from memory, this seemed to be a bit richer and darker fruit profile.

2011 vintage

Absolutely loved this beautiful Pinot Noir. More red fruit, but not like too much raspberry made it a joy to drink. I justified opening it probably a couple years too early but I have another bottle that I can hopefully wait on. What wonderful surprise. Can’t wait to get my ordered Occidental allocation from this year!

2013 vintage

A round yet tart Pinot that tastes half its age - not exactly in a good way. Ruby red in color, medium in body, nose of pomegranate, orange peel, and sour cherry. Tastes of raspberry, rhubarb, tart cranberry, and herbs, with a thick mouthfeel and a zippy finish. 14.1% alcohol. This was tightly wound even after two hours in the decanter, so I would suggest either a longer decant or another year or two in bottle, in order to let …

2011 vintage

Big wild dark red berry aromas. Shows some earthy aromas. Oak pokes it head through on the palate. Needs some time, but has lots of stuffing. Med/- tannin. Barrel tannin.

2013 vintage

Excellent. It was good a year ago, it's even better now. I will wait another year to open the next one if I can....It's not going to be easy.

2011 vintage

Elegant nose with loads of savory spice. ripe cranberry and cherry aromas. Ripe, but not sweet, fresh red fruit palate, a little bit of waxy fruit to the palate. Med/- tannin. Med/+ acid. Structure and not overdone. Needs some time to open up, as this is at PnP.

2013 vintage

Wow, really nice!

2013 vintage

This is tight wine, so it was open 24 hours, 5 hours without cork. With the air it's pretty amazing . Cranberries, blackberries, cedar, tobacco, cola, Spice, tea and smokey oak. Complex and powerful. A

2013 vintage

Certainly the most gorgeous colored Pinot I have ever seen--plum ruby. The nose is soft-spoken and understated, with aromas of lavender, gravel, cranberry/pomegranate, dragonfruit, and a touch of brown sugar cola. The palate is what really makes this wine--it is remarkably balanced and has this spritely almost tart sensation that sends shivers down your spine. This is more than I normally pay for Pinots that I drink regularly--don't necessarily feel like this wine is worth the additional cost but it …

2013 vintage

Solid Sonoma Coast offering. Savory and somewhat structured red fruits and lengthy finish. Tasty.

2013 vintage

Cranberries, black fruit, cedar, spice and cedar. A-

2013 vintage

Epic wines on a Friday Night (Home (Noe st)) : Ripe, full-bodied with elevated acid. Slight savoriness. Precision of ripeness. Exuberant fruit with slight reductive character. Reminds me of the precise ripeness of many Torbreck wines. Not my favorite style of Pinot but done well.

2013 vintage

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Occidental (Kistler), Bodega Headlands Vineyard Cuvee Elizabeth, Sonoma Coast

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