Lynmar Estate

I chose to do a tasting at Lynmar Estate in search of food wines. The veteran among us asked if they still did pizza night on Fridays and while our pourer replied in the negative the winery does staff a full culinary team and we found the old brick pizza oven nestled in the redwood grove. But more on the garden later.

Lynmar has an excellent lineage. Purchased from Willian Dutton in the 70s, at first they sold their fruit to such power house labels as Merry Edwards the Étude before setting out on their own.

We did a standard wine flight for $60pp and is offered Thursdays through Mondays 11-2 (<take note of those truncated hours). We tastes a total of six wines: two chardonnays and four pinot noirs.

Of the chardonnays, we preferred the quail hill. The Sonoma Coast had too must malolactic and oak for us despite the addition of the concrete amphora during fermentation. The Quail Hill (a combo of the original Wente and Rued clones) had great acid and minimality with notes of honeydew and citrus.

Looks back on my notes about the Pinots, there really wasn’t a bad on in the bunc, but our favorites were the Quail Hill and the AMDG. Husband described the Quail Hill as “the perfect expression of Pinot.” I found it a beautiful balance of fruit, leather, and spice. The AMDG has “more opinion.” It was truly a food wine with the dark fruit expressing itself ahead of the earth and oak after a bit of fat on the palate.

AMDG is a latin saying meaning “for the greater glory of God.” Proprietor Lynn Fritz apparently went to jesuit schools and tries to live by the saying. This is reflected in the sustainable practices of the winery including the pollinator-friendly garden and gravity-fed production facility.

Obviously you can just sit and enjoy your wine with the incredible view, but Lynmar also offers a bit more for the discerning wine nerd. In addition to the aroma wheel placement, our pourer also offered us vineyard maps with each block delineated by clone. The OCD munchkin inside me sighed with joy!