Keller Estate

Keller Estate is the southernmost winery in Sonoma Coast. It’s also a whole lot closer to San Francisco Bay than it is to the Pacific Ocean, which forms the appellation’s western edge and, in the popular imagination, its most salient feature. Keller Estate pokes a tasty hole in that theory, and proves what the appellation’s original architect, Brice Jones, has argued for decades: what makes Sonoma Coast work as an appellation is how the wind courses through it, not where the waves hit the rocks.

That wind bends the Keller Estate vines hard to the east every afternoon in summer, kicking the warm temperatures down two or three dozen degrees overnight. One great result is this Pinot Gris. It’s as naturally sweet as any dry white wine can be, filling your mouth with juicy stone-fruit and lychee flavors. It’s also as bracing as a clean breeze, with grapefruit, mineral and spice qualities keeping the texture lively and your taste buds awake. Excellent aperitif and could work well with seafood, lighter pastas, and subtler cheeses.

Reviewed August 29, 2006 by Thom Elkjer.