2021 Orin Swift 'Case Study' Pinot Noir, Equinox Edition XVIII

Six bottles available. This was never sold in a shop.

Equinox is Orin Swift's members-only club. Two shipments a year, six bottles each, every one a wine created for that release and never repeated, with its own label. Members pay nine hundred dollars a shipment. Edition XVIII is the eighteenth of them, and "Case Study" is the name of the artwork concept for this one, the label reading "Exhibit #7: Ceremonial War Mask."

Two things worth being clear about, since the label invites the opposite reading. "Case Study" and "Exhibit" are a design conceit, not a vineyard, a lot selection or a reserve tier. And there is no critic score for this wine, because club releases are not submitted for review. What makes it hard to find is that it was never on a shelf.

Where the fruit comes from

Unusually for Orin Swift, the sourcing is published: Our Lady of Guadalupe Vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills and Annapolis Ridge Vineyard on the Sonoma Coast. Two of California's genuinely cool-climate Pinot addresses, blended across appellations, which is why the label reads California.

In the glass

A garnet core with a ruby rim. The winery's note gives cranberry and strawberry aromatics with fennel, then a mid-palate of black cherry, wild raspberry, orange peel and pomegranate carried on a prominent vein of acidity. At 15.3% this is Pinot Noir in the ripe, generous, unapologetically Californian register rather than the lean Burgundian one. Know which you want.

The details

• Producer: Orin Swift Cellars
• Appellation: California
• Vineyards: Our Lady of Guadalupe (Sta. Rita Hills), Annapolis Ridge (Sonoma Coast)
• Vintage: 2021
• Grape: 100% Pinot Noir
• Alcohol: 15.3%
• Ageing: 9 months in French oak, 41% new
• Format: 750ml
• Drinking window: drinking now. Built for the near term rather than the cellar.

Serving and pairing

Serve at 58 to 60°F, cooler than you would a Cabernet. Duck, salmon, mushroom risotto, or charcuterie. A short decant is plenty.

Six bottles, shipped from our Florida cellar in protective packaging. Browse more Pinot Noir.