Ultramarine, Sonoma Coast Blanc de Noirs Heintz Vineyard, 2018

Ultramarine is, by many accounts, California's first cult sparkling wine, and Michael Cruse made his name with single-vineyard, single-vintage, single-grape bottlings produced in tiny quantities. This is the Blanc de Noirs from the Heintz Vineyard on the Sonoma Coast, a Pinot Noir pressed to white and made in the grower-Champagne mold: blocked malolactic, aging in oak, minimal sulfur, and little or no dosage. The 2018 is bone-dry, savory and concentrated, with the kind of bready, mineral complexity that comes from real lees time. It is a fixed, finite quantity and notoriously hard to find. Serve it in a wine glass and let it open up.