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Platt Vineyard
In the early 2000s, wine-loving businessman Lewis Platt – former CEO of Hewlett Packard – planted nearly 30 acres of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the Freestone-Occidental sub-district of Sonoma. Today, these cool, coastal slopes fall within the newly-minted AVA of West Sonoma Coast, which has become recognised as ground zero for some of California’s most thrilling Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Over the last two decades Platt Vineyard has become renowned as the origin of multiple world class wines. Last year, a first release Chardonnay burst onto the scene with a perfect 100/100 rating from Antonio Galloni (www.vinous.com), opening a new chapter for Platt Vineyard under new owners.
This is the story of Platt Vineyards and the emergence of a new powerhouse of cool climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grown on the California coast.
Lewis Platt died in 2005 without seeing the realisation of his dream to grow grapes of outstanding quality on his patch of dirt in Sonoma. However, he had planted more than just vines as he established his vineyard. From the earliest conception of his project, Platt had consulted with local winemaking stars to whom he eventually intended to sell his grapes.
Ted Lemon (www.littorai.com), Fred Scherrer (www.scherrerwinery.com) and David Ramey (www.rameywine.com), amongst others, all contributed to the selection of varieties, clones and planting decisions. From the beginning Platt was advised by some of the brightest and best, and his vineyard benefitted from foundations laid by some of the industry’s leading lights.
After her husband’s death, Joan Platt continued to care for the vineyard and build close relationships with California’s finest exponents of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
In a situation with distant echoes of Burgundy, a roll-call of cult producers started to make wine from Platt Vineyard fruit. As well as the names mentioned previously, Rivers-Marie, Outpost, Radio Coteau, Failla and others were producing Single Vineyard Designate wines from Platt Vineyard, to significant critical acclaim and accompanying demand from collectors. Grapes from Platt Vineyard became some of the most expensive Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grown in California.
California does not have a formal system for ranking vineyards. If it did, there is no question Platt would be a Grand Cru
Antonio Galloni / www.vinous.com
After a brief period under the ownership of a California vineyard investment fund, Platt Vineyard was acquired by AXA Millesimes in 2022. Owned by the French insurance giant, this is a group of top line wine estates including Chateaux Pichon Baron and Suduiraut, in Bordeaux, Burgundy’s Domaine de l’Arlot, the iconic Quinta do Noval in Portugal, Disznoko Tokaj from Hungary, and Outpost in California. With director Christian Seely now at the helm, Platt Vineyard ceased all external grape sales and pivoted to an estate model, vinifying their own wines to be sold under their own label.
Platt Vineyard is now a producer, with Thomas Rivers-Brown of Rivers-Marie (www.riversmarie.com), as consultant winemaker.
Having the ability to blend fruit from throughout the entire vineyard, to maximise quality in any given vintage, struck me as akin to uniting the whole of Clos Vougeot or all of Clos de la Roche under single owners. When Cistercian monks designated those sites Grand Crus, all those centuries ago, it was based on the performance of the entire sites. Today, those sites have been chopped up between multiple owners; we can only guess at how a skilled winemaker might approach Clos Vougeot, for example, if he had the full palette of the entire vineyard at his disposal, rather than a few rows at the bottom corner of the slope or a tiny parcel above the chateau…
Platt Vineyard is now in this position that we can only imagine in Burgundy. Winemaker Derek Flegal, working with Thomas Rivers-Brown, can now select fruit from the length and breadth of the full site to make the best expression of Platt in each specific year.
As soon as we learned of this story, we were reaching for the phone and, thanks to our excellent relations with AXA Millesimes and Pichon Baron in Bordeaux, we were delighted to win Platt Vineyard for our portfolio of agency producers in Singapore.
Platt Vineyards produce a quartet of wines: there are both Estate bottlings of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and a Reserve tier. I have included my tasting notes for the inaugural 2023 vintage, below, including the Chardonnay rated 100/100 by Galloni, as well as notes on the up-coming 2024 releases that I tasted just last week.
Stylistically, I was not surprised that Platt Vineyard wines are not in the classically bold California idiom, as those full-throttle wines are no longer in fashion. However, neither are these at the other extreme for super-lean and borderline austere, high acid, examples. Instead, they find a harmony between generosity and bright acidity. Across the range, both the Estate and Reserve wines tend to move from expressions of fruit to becoming increasingly savoury, structural and taut as they sit in the glass. Whilst it is early days for both vintages, 2023 seems to favour Chardonnay whereas I found 2024 to favour Pinot Noir.
Platt Vineyard might be a relatively new label and a new estate but it is a vineyard of significant pedigree, now farmed and managed by a team renowned for world class wine production. This is a name to have on your radar and bottles to put in your cellar.
Estate Chardonnay 2023
Stone fruit and custard apple aromas on the nose. Has kept its insistent acidity and brightness of profile. Becomes detailed and precise on the mid-palate, gaining in cohesion and tension. The charge of energy crescendos through the line. Very long, taut and thrilling.
95/100 – Matthew Hemming MW
Reserve Chardonnay 2023
A better showing than my previous tasting. Extremely impressive texturally and in terms of mid-palate complexity. Finely-woven and silky, with savoury complexity and spice tones. Shows an impressive degree of controlled power and finishes with a saline crunch.
98/100 – Matthew Hemming MW
Estate Chardonnay 2024
Attractively bright and breezy orchard fruits, with plenty of green apple, and just a very subtle framing of oak. The palate has accents of butter and some delicate vanilla pod notes from French oak but is enlivened by crisp and incisive acidity. The profile is taut and zippy with a charge of cleansing acidity that cuts through the broader lemon and custard apple flavours fanning out from the core of the wine. Needs a year or two for the structure to soften and integrate further, as texture and complexity evolve. Impressively intense and coiled at this point. Finishes with a tangerine note.
92/100 – Matthew Hemming MW
Reserve Chardonnay 2024
Slightly deeper in colour than the Estate Chardonnay and the aromas follow that – they’re less immediately expressive but richer, bassier and a bit more mineral-driven. Altogether this is a Chardonnay of texture and a deeply savoury profile. There’s plenty of dry extract and phenolic punch, giving a muscular and powerful stature. Mineral and spicy, with white peach notes. It seems entirely to have eaten its wood, although there’s a vague peanut character that develops with air. The texture has a richness, density and viscosity, yet is shot through with an acidity that lifts and animates it. Serious and authoritative, but I like the sense of uncompromising grandeur. The power and length are striking and the volume is undeniably of Grand Cru level.
95/100 – Matthew Hemming MW
Estate Pinot Noir 2023
Rather lovely summer fruit compote profile, but fresh – not confit. Rather more raspberry with air, seemingly more slender and willowy than when I last tasted. Vibrant energy with notes of crushed dried herbs in the background. The tannins are pillowy and gentle. Clean and precise, but with the additional volume of California fruit.
94/100 – Matthew Hemming MW
Reserve Pinot Noir 2023
Rich and voluminous with plenty of mid-palate weight and a depth of savoury sophistication right through the line. Perhaps misses a nuance of air and flow – could use more light and shade. The texture, however, is superb. It is seamless, sensual and velvet. Succulent and broad on the finish. Classical California but with balance and freshness.
96/100 – Matthew Hemming MW
Estate Pinot Noir 2024
Pulls off a slightly unlikely combination of precise, pretty and yet confit red fruit – not confiture, but confit strawberries along with red cherries and wild raspberries. Derives a further measure of freshness and precision from a whole bunch element, bringing both freshness and some peppery notes. Floods the palate with an unabashed generosity of sweet fruit but has sufficient crunch, from acid and tannin, to maintain balance and keep its upright posture. Appealing, succulent and juicy, with a twist of sour cherry on the finish and an almost saline twang on the very back end.
92/100 – Matthew Hemming MW
Reserve Pinot Noir 2024
Deeply-pitched and slightly ferrous aromas of dark fruit, loam and earth. That iron-like tone is almost redolent of Pommard but the fruit is elevated to an entirely different level. Some spice accents from whole cluster are there in the background with distinct dusky rose petal notes. The texture is superb, both silky and with a richer, more velvet, quality. I know Platt is meant to be a Chardonnay vineyard but, for me, this is a Pinot vintage for them. There’s a mid-palate richness that’s distinctly Californian but it’s all beautifully proportioned and managed. Layered and concentrated, yet without excess, this is very impressive and has the sort of power that purrs like a supercar.
