Went to Mendocino, CA a few weeks ago and tasted a ton of good Pinot Noir. To me, it’s probably what they do best. But one of my favorite visits was to Masút.

The guys who make Masút are two brothers, Jake and Ben, who are from the Fetzer family. At first I was like, Fetzer? They’re known for “supermarket” wine. But about in 1992 the family sold the Fetzer name to Brown-Forman and as part of the deal none of them could make wine for almost a decade. But now, many of the 11 kids are scattered all over Mendocino making their own higher-end, really good wine under their own labels (Saracina, Jeriko). Jake and Ben are the only grandkids who stayed in the wine business (unfortunately their dad, who started the Masút label, passed away in a river rafting accident in 2006). But with Pinot this good, they make up for the other grandkids who haven’t gone grape.

We got to Masút and drove all the way up onto the mountain to the winery. First we sampled some rosé, which they don’t make much of which is too bad because it was great. Love a rosé made from Pinot Noir, always light and perfect for summer, with more fruit and flavor than Provençal ones.

Then we sampled some of the new Pinots from the barrel. All as good as the ones we then had from the bottle. Fantastic balance of light black cherry, cranberry, and acid with a touch of earth. Probably my favorite Pinots from Mendocino other than Drew (which we’ll get to in tomorrow’s post).

We drank the Estate ($40) and the Block 6 (awesome, $60) at the picnic table and it was seriously windy. Masút is located in a gap in the mountains and, man, does the wind whip through.

So the only logical thing to do was head to an even windier spot. We took the truck up to a high hilltop opposite from Eagle Peak (the name of the AVA they’re trying to get passed because of its unique climate and terrain).

this is how they roll in Mendo – bottles in the cupholder, glass in hand

I put my glass down on the table to take the above photo and the wind blew it right over. But the good thing about breaking the bottom off a wine glass is that you can then easily shove it between the wooden planks of a picnic table to hold it even more stably.

Very resourceful, that Jake.

Tomorrow, we’ll hit my other top wines from Mendocino. For now, grab some Masut here. So good.