STIRM Joaquinite Pinot Noir '24

2024 Stirm Wine Co. “Joaquinite” Gimelli Vineyard Pinot Noir, Cienega Valley

The newest release from Ryan Stirm and the historic Gimelli Vineyard (aka El Gabilan) in California’s limestone-rich Cienega Valley, San Benito County. These 27+ year-old vines sit on the same eroded mountain calcite soils that once drew Josh Jensen to plant Calera just uphill. Warm days and cold nights deliver ripe fruit with electric natural acidity, while the alkaline ground keeps everything bright and mineral-driven.

True to Stirm’s minimal-intervention ethos, the 2024 was hand-harvested, destemmed, and fermented spontaneously with native yeast in old open-top redwood vats. Short maceration, gentle pressing, and aging in neutral oak barrels followed before bottling unfined and unfiltered. The result is another tiny-production gem (same modest scale as prior vintages) that punches way above its weight.

In the glass it opens floral and fragrant: dried rose petals, hibiscus tea, wild strawberry, black raspberry, and a cranberry lift. The palate is silky and savory—think seared strawberry with a balsamic edge, forest-floor earth, foraged mushrooms, and that signature dusty limestone minerality. Light-to-medium bodied, vibrant, and effortlessly elegant, it drinks like a cross between classic California Pinot and old-world Burgundy… but at a fraction of the price.