02 Feb Please The Palate Wine of the Week: Wow & Flutter 2019 Pinot Noir, Lingenfelder Vineyard, Russian River Valley

When listening to an analog recording, or a record on a turntable, if you have ever hear a distortion, that is called the “wow and flutter”. This imperfection in the recording is like Mother Nature’s role in winemaking. It is the one thing that cannot be controlled by a winemaker. This was the inspiration behind a new label out of the Russian River Valley called Wow and Flutter . But, I will tell you that as I sipped the wine, I said “wow” and my heart went flutter and that is why the Wow & Flutter 2019 Pinot Noir, Lingenfelder Vineyard, Russian River Valley is the Please The Palate wine of the week.

The Wow & Flutter 2019 Pinot Noir is the first wine release by husband and wife team John Martin and Jennifer Freebairn. Both wine industry veterans, they also both started their careers in the music industry. John worked in sound engineering and Jennifer is a published composer, singer, musician and bandleader. And, together they fell in love with wine. They moved from Southern California to Northern California where, over the years, John has worked as a winemaker at Chalk Hill and at Sebastiani Vineyards. Jennifer has worked on the sales and marketing side of wine for companies including Paul Hobbs Wines, Kosta Brown, and Lasseter Family Winery.

After making wine and marketing wine for others, John and Jennifer have made their first wine. The Pinot Noir is sourced from the Lingenfelder Vineyard, located 3 acres west of the town of Fulton in the Russian River Valley. Owned by Mark and Susie Lingenfelder, the vineyard was originally planted in 1996 and well-known producers, including Siduri and Benovia, source Pinot Noir from here.

The Wow and Flutter Pinot Noir is 30% whole cluster and spends 16 months in 30% new French Oak. On the nose, it has all the marker of a beautiful, lush Pinot Noir. There are bright red fruit aromas of raspberries, pomegranate, and cherry, as well as violets and black tea.. On the palate, the wine is medium bodied with smooth tannins and fresh acidity.

Only 105 Cases of the Wow and Flutter 2019 Pinot Noir was made and it retails for $45. If you want to say “wow” and make your heart flutter, try the Wow & Flutter 2019 Pinot Noir, Lingenfelder Vineyard, Russian River Valley.