Wayfarer Vineyards Wine Tasting with Special Guest Winemaker Todd Kohn Wednesday, March 20th 7:30pm and all the Wayfarer Wines in the store on SALE!!
"Now wines are wonders; great wines are magical; and winemakers are mad. Like horse fanciers, they are always trying to improve the breed." - William E. Massee
We are constantly trying to improve what we do here at the Wine Bar, and we have some great new menu items for the private dining on the cave on Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights.
We will take up to 16 people but will accept as few as 6 for a curated dinner by Chef Toni. We must know in advance what food items you want so you will have to coordinate the menu with Toni ahead of time but she can put together any of your favorites from past Wine Bar menus or whatever you want if she has enough notice. The best thing about this table is the view of the wine, we have the largest selection of vintage wine in South Florida and everything is available at a retail price!! You may want to bring a sweater it is 64 degrees in the wine cave.
They have been on a constant path of improvement at Wayfarer Winery and when Jayson Pahlmeyer started out in 1986, he had no winery and no vineyards but was determined to make one of California’s best wines and one that would stand up to the best of those made in Burgundy France and the rest of the world.
I was happy to accept the Pahlmeyer family’s invitation to visit the Wayfarer Vineyard in August of 2013 and it worked out perfectly for me as I was already out on the west coast for the Washington State Wine Auction. It was great to visit the Fort Ross Seaview appellation with one of the state’s best ocean side resorts Tamber Cove. This place was a throwback in time, one of the most unique establishments that I have ever visited and the only place to have a group stay that is coming out to visit the vineyards here on the true Sonoma Coast aka Fort Ross Seaview.
The story of the Wayfarer Vineyards begins with Helen Turley as winemaker for Pahlmeyer in the early day she found this property for Jayson. It was an organic farm one of the most northern vineyard m the Fort Ross Ava. They are in a warm spot in a cold area. David Abreu planted the vineyard in 2002 and they are two ridge lines in from the ocean so to say the least extreme growing conditions. In 2011 the Fort Ross AVA was approved all of which is above 900 foot elevation and is right on the ocean.
The vineyard here is planted with a very tight density 6 x 3 as opposed to 8 x 10. More concentrated fruit is the result. It is 30 acres broken down to 30 blocks of 1 acre each. They are on 3 main ridges they used three different root stocks because of the different flavor profiles because of the temperatures in the vineyards. They have several different clones on the property and these are the first releases from this exciting new label from this extreme growing region.
Wayfarer is one of the most exciting new projects to come out in the world of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and I was glad to hear that winemaker Todd Kohn was coming to visit us here in South Florida. Join us as we welcome Todd to South Florida for a special tasting of Wayfarer wines going back to the 2013 vintage. The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $225 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.
WAYFARER WINE TASTING WITH SPECIAL GUEST Winemaker Todd Kohn
Wednesday, March 20th
7:30 PM
2020 Wayfarer Rose Wf2 Fort Ross Seaview
2021 Wayfarer Chardonnay Wayfarer Vineyard Fort Ross Seaview Sonoma
2020 Wayfarer Chardonnay Wayfarer Vineyard Fort Ross Seaview Sonoma
2019 Wayfarer Chardonnay Wayfarer Vineyard Fort Ross Seaview Sonoma
2020 Wayfarer Pinot Noir Wf2 Fort Ross Sea View
2021 Wayfarer Pinot Noir Wayfarer Vineyard Fort Ross Seaview Sonoma
2021 Wayfarer Mother Rock Pinot Noir Sonoma
2021 Wayfarer Pinot Noir Golden Mean Fort Ross-Seaview Sonoma
2021 Wayfarer Pinot Noir The Traveler Fort Ross Seaview
2015 Wayfarer Pinot Noir The Traveler Fort Ross Seaview
2013 Wayfarer Pinot Noir Wayfarer Vineyard Fort Ross Seaview Magnum
Menu
Selection of Cheese and Charcuterie
Beet and Goat Cheese Salad with Toasted Pistachios and aged Balsamic
Tuna Toro and Wahoo Tartar with Cucumber Ribbons, Meyer Lemon Basil Vinaigrette and Italian Sturgeon Caviar
Deconstructed Pinot Noir Coq Au Vin
Key Lime Tart
The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $225 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com. Please let us know when you make your reservations if you have any food allergies or aversions and chefs Toni and Dani will be happy to accommodate you.
A bit about winemaker Todd Kohn:
Wayfarer Winemaker Todd Kohn has deep roots in Northern California. He grew up in the town of Redding,
just three hours north of Sonoma. Graduating from UC Davis with a degree in Viticulture and Enology, Todd always enjoyed science, and had a strong desire to work with his hands. During his first harvest internship at the California sparkling wine house, Schramsberg—he fell in love with wine, and the dedicated work of harvest.
Additional internships, focused in the vineyard, lab and cellar, helped develop Todd’s thorough knowledge of winegrowing and winemaking. Experience at several premiere Napa Valley wine producers, including Opus One, soon led to an opportunity in Australia, at Moorooduc Estate. Working in the Mornington Peninsula region of Australia gave Todd invaluable insight into growing and crafting world class Pinot Noir and Chardonnay—great preparation for his role at Wayfarer.
Todd joined Wayfarer in the beginning of 2013 as Assistant to the Winemaker. Over the next 5 years, he worked hand in hand with the Consulting Winemaker to define Wayfarer’s vineyard practices and winemaking techniques, before taking the helm as Winemaker in December of 2017.
All the Wayfarer wines in the store on SALE!!
2020 Wayfarer Rose WF2 Fort Ross SeaView
Price: $30.00 Your Price: $26.40 Quantity in Stock: 7
A medley of watermelon, white peach and orange zest aromas unfold in the glass, along with notes of kumquat and Asian pear. Tangerine and lemon come together for an intensely juicy entry, while a touch of richness satiates the palate.
About Wayfarer WF2
Launched in 2021, Wayfarer WF2 wines are 100% estate, limited production, high quality and value driven. Inspired by the age-old question of what to open on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, WF2 wines are fresh, vibrant and richly textured.
The Pinot Noir grapes were hand-picked in the cool of the night and hand-sorted at the winery. Fermented in neutral French oak barrels, the wine then aged for three months before bottling.
2021 brought another dry year and a vintage with great personality. We had our lowest rainfall on record, but thankfully the 21 inches of rain we received was enough to fill our pond (which is fed entirely by rainfall), and enabled us to give our vines a good start. A dry and mild spring gave way to a warm summer with three heat events, each lasting only a couple days. Even ripening led to 13 nights of harvest within 16 days. The fruit showed remarkable vibrancy, color and structure in 2021.
2021 Wayfarer Chardonnay Wayfarer Vineyard Fort Ross Seaview
Price: $97.00 Your Price: $85.80
(98 points) The 2021 Chardonnay The Estate is delightfully decadent and almost feels like a guilty pleasure—it's so packed with flavor! It has gregarious aromatic layers of warm peach, summer honey, candied citrus and wafts of allspice. The medium-bodied palate is luxuriously satiny and features expansive, concentrated flavors. Despite its generosity, it maintains balance with bright acidity, and it has an epically long finish. (EB) (6/2023) Wine Advocate
2020 Wayfarer Chardonnay Wayfarer Vineyard Fort Ross Seaview
Price: $97.00 Your Price: $85.36 Quantity in Stock: 75
(96 Points) The 2020 Chardonnay Wayfarer Vineyard has pretty scents of baked apples, beeswax, roasted almonds and toast. The medium-bodied palate has a satiny texture and layered, savory flavors balanced by refreshing acidity, and it finishes long and flavorful. Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2019 Wayfarer Chardonnay Wayfarer Vineyard Fort Ross Seaview
Price: $97.50 Your Price: $85.80 Quantity in Stock: 8
A beautiful bouquet with that briny mineral quality with notes of lightly toasted oak spice lemon curd and white flowers with a big creamy texture on the tongue a long layered finish echoing the nuance from the nose lengthening the finish, lots of minerality and chalky mineral notes. Finish 45+ Most Excellent +
2020 Wayfarer Pinot Noir WF2 Fort Ross Sea View
Price: $51.00 Your Price: $44.88 Quantity in Stock: 11
The 2020 vintage opens with aromas of vibrant dark fruit, blueberry and blackberry compote, subtle forest floor and savory earth. Delicious pomegranate enters the palate, at once refreshing, dense and powerful. Rich notes of dark chocolate round out the finish. Enjoy as the wine continues to open in the glass.
The Pinot Noir grapes were hand-picked in the cool of the night and hand-sorted at the winery. The fruit was cold-soaked then fermented in stainless steel tanks with native yeast and careful punch-downs. The wine aged in 30% new French oak barrels for 10 months and was bottled in August 2021.
With overall rainfall only 28 inches compared to our 65-inch annual average, 2020 is considered a drought year. However, we received 3 inches of rain in April, and another 3 inches in May. This water filled the soil profile and gave the vines plenty of energy through spring, allowing budbreak and bloom to occur within their typical timeframes. The summer was warmer than average, with temperatures reaching the mid-80s on most days. The vines loved the warm weather and kept to their normal schedule, with veraison occurring at the end of July. August continued with warmer than average weather, however we only had one day where the temperature rose above 90 degrees. The vines continued to thrive until harvest, which began on August 26th and wrapped up on September 19th.
2021 WAYFARER PINOT NOIR WF2 FORT ROSS SEA VIEW
Price: $51.00 Your Price: $44.88 Quantity in Stock: 1
The 2021 jumps from the glass with notes of fresh rose, black currant, blackberry, blood orange, crushed earth, soy sauce, allspice and strawberry fields. A linear palate focuses on freshly picked strawberries and blackberries at the peak of ripeness, layered with decadent dark chocolate mousse. There is a beautiful persistence to this multifaceted Pinot Noir.
2021 Wayfarer Pinot Noir Wayfarer Vineyard Fort Ross Seaview Magnum
Price: $228.00 Your Price: $200.64 Quantity in Stock: 6
2021 Wayfarer Pinot Noir Fort Ross Seaview Wayfarer Vineyard
Price: $100.50 Your Price: $88.44 Quantity in Stock: 1
(95 Points) The 2021 Pinot Noir The Estate has inviting aromas of cranberry sauce, mushroom, allspice and bitters. The palate's concentrated, nuanced fruit is structured by focused acidity and generous, powdery tannins, and it finishes with a flourish of spicy accents. It's drinking beautifully now and will develop savory complexity in bottle over the next decade. Wine Advocate, June 2023
2021 Wayfarer Mother Rock Pinot Noir Sonoma
Price: $150.00 Your Price: $132.00 Quantity in Stock: 6
This deep ruby-colored cuvée of Pinot Noir clones 37 and Dijon 777 is named for the sandstone substrate that runs under our Wayfarer Vineyard, urging our vines to burrow deeply into the distinctive terrain below. Red fruit aromas of strawberry and Bing cherry interweave with hints of violet, rhubarb and spice, accented by notes of minerality. The entry on the palate is soft and focused, with flavors of raspberry, boysenberry, and mint chocolate. Well-integrated tannins support the fruit characters over a lingering finish. Allow this wine to rest in the cellar, as it will age beautifully over the next 3+ years
2021 Wayfarer Pinot Noir Golden Mean Fort Ross-Seaview Sonoma
Price: $150.00 Your Price: $132.00 Quantity in Stock: 6
(96 Points) Erin Brooks, Wine Advocate, June 2023 The 2021 Pinot Noir Golden Mean is glossy and expressive this vintage. It comes from Pommard and Swan selection vines planted on east- and west-facing slopes, respectively. It begins with ringing tones of truffle, moss, allspice, cranberry and red cherry aromatics. The light-bodied palate is velvety and refreshing with a surprisingly concentrated core of perfumed fruit, and it has an expansive finish streaked with nuances of spice and earth.
Tasting Notes Golden Mean is a mathematical term for the beautiful middle between two opposites, and this wine is so named because it is a blend of two distinctive clonal selections, Swan and Pommard. The Swan clone shines first with opening notes of delicate rose petals, strawberries, cranberries and a hint of violets, followed by more robust Pommard aromas of brambly blackberries fresh off the vine, with hints of iron and blood orange. The palate showcases an ethereal entry from the Swan and ends with the sublime texture of Pommard, but it’s impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins. This wine isn’t just a beautiful middle – it’s more than the sum of its parts.
Winemaking Notes Each block was picked by hand at night, and firm, cool clusters were delivered to the winery before sunrise. We hand-sorted and destemmed the fruit before transferring it into stainless steel tanks for five to ten days of cold maceration. Fermentation was guided by native yeast, and hand punch downs were tailored to how each tank tasted each day. The free run wine aged in French oak barrels, 43% new, for 15 months.
Vintage Notes 2021 was a dry, warm, even vintage, giving us wines with great intensity and harmony. Though we experienced record-low rainfall of 20 inches, a long way from our 65-inch average, it was plenty to fill our pond and irrigate our vines throughout the season. Budbreak occurred on the early side due to an unusually dry, warm winter, and this early trend continued throughout the season. Spring and summer remained dry and warm, though temperatures never spiked. This consistency, along with bountiful sunlight, allowed for even ripening across the vineyard. It was a smooth growing season and an ideal harvest, with all fruit picked at just the right moment and coming into the winery in a steady stream. The wines are remarkably dense and complex, with lots of structure, energy and delicate aromatics.
Blocks 5, 20 Clones Pommard 4, Swan
2021 Wayfarer Pinot Noir The Traveler Fort Ross Seaview
Price: $180.00 Your Price: $158.40 Quantity in Stock: 6
(98 Points) Audrey Frick, Jeb Dunnuck, July 2023 Coming from one east-facing and one west-facing block of deeper soils and made from suitcase clones, the 2021 Pinot Noir The Traveler is a little more wound up initially in terms of its aromatics, with red berries, dusty earth, and blood orange. The most lifted and driving of the wines from Wayfarer, it has a fresh spine of acidity, beautiful pure fruit of grenadine, notes of toasted spice, and a super-long finish. This is mouthwatering with saline and freshness that will be outstanding over the next 15 or more years. My favorite of the Wayfarer reds, it’s a brilliant wine.
2019 Wayfarer Mother Rock Pinot Noir Sonoma
Price: $135.00 Your Price: $118.80 Quantity in Stock: 1
Raspberry, pomegranate, rose and violet seduce the nose. The silky tannins are rich and creamy, yet incredibly focused, as they play beautifully with the juiciness of the wine. Mineral, chalky notes of powdered cacao linger on the finish. The 2019 Mother Rock is a glorious expression of the Dijon 777 and Mount Eden clones.
2019 Wayfarer Pinot Noir Golden Mean Fort Ross-Seaview Sonoma
Price: $135.00 Sale Price: $118.80 Quantity in Stock: 1
Tasting Notes Golden Mean is a union of contrasts: the earthy aromatics and powerful structure of the Pommard clone married with the elegance and alluring perfume of the Swan clone. This wine is an aromatic journey, beginning with floral notes of magnolia and lavender, leading to vibrant fruit tones of cranberry and mandarin, finishing with warm garden scents of marjoram and fresh anise. The velvet mouthfeel glides through a mid-palate rich with raspberries, rose hips and hints of black pepper and cedar. Ready to savor upon release, this wine will age beautifully for another 10-15 years.
Winemaking Notes We hand-picked and hand-sorted the fruit, reserving 35% for whole-cluster fermentation. The remaining berries were then de-stemmed and hand-sorted again before transfer to tank. Five to seven days of cold maceration preceded more than two weeks of 100% native yeast fermentation. The fruit was then gently pressed, its free-run juice transferred to 54% new French oak barrels for 15 months of aging.
2015 Wayfarer The Traveler Pinot Noir Fort Ross Seaview
Price: $157.50 Your Price: $138.60
This is made from a single suitcase clone and this wine had a beautiful bouquet of exotic spices violet and rose floral notes an array of raspberry coulis cranberry wild strawberry very complex array of aromas. Wow this wine has a wonderful elegance to it an array of exotic spices and a velvety texture that is framed with a firm hand of acidity. This wine is incredibly rich but has wonderful balance a very long finish. Finish 50%. Killer
2014 Wayfarer Pinot Noir Wayfarer Vineyard Fort Ross Seaview Sonoma MAGNUM
Price: $234.00 Your Price: $205.92 Quantity in Stock: 1
(93 points) Medium ruby-purple colored, the 2014 Pinot Noir Wayfarer Vineyard has a gregarious nose of ripe Bing cherries, cranberry sauce and rhubarb pie with hints of mossy bark, lavender and cumin seed. Medium-bodied, the palate has wonderful restraint and a quiet intensity, with chewy tannins and seamless freshness framing the savory flavors, finishing on an appealing dried herb note. Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
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