Members’ Corner
Welcome to the Fall 2025 Wine Club shipment!
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Message from the winemaker…
Phillip Baxter rocks a bandana while being a fork lift cowboy.
Dear friends,
Harvest has arrived once again on the Mendocino coast! Despite the early morning silence of the ridge top, there was fresh excitement in the air as the truck pulled up with the first grapes of the 2025 harvest.
When the grapes arrive, the picking bins are forklifted onto the scale to be weighed — the first measure of the season’s work. From there, the fruit is raked slowly onto the sorting conveyor, where each cluster is given a careful look before it enters the de-stemmer. The stems pop free and are discarded, while the individual berries tumble into one-ton, open-topped fermenters.
Harvest is the time of year when we baby the wines with plenty of attention, keeping an experienced eye on the fermentations, checking in with them twice daily. After about two weeks of hand-punchdowns each morning and evening (which is almost a meditative process to start and end the day!) we press the juice off in our gentle basket press and then into barrel they go, to start their aging process. No big batches here - this is winemaking on a human scale — true craft, and the way we believe great wines are made.
The Fall 2025 Wine Club selection reflects this approach. Each bottle in your shipment has been hand prepared, all the way along. I often joke about how many times I must have touched each bottle before it reaches your table! We hope you’ll take your time with the wines, perhaps opening a bottle as you read this, imagining the crush pad on a crisp morning, the scent of fermenting Pinot Noir in the air.
Thank you for being part of our community and for sharing in the craft that defines Baxter.
With gratitude,
Phillip Baxter
Winemaker, Baxter Winery
PS - we haven’t sent these wines out for review yet, so they are pre-points!
fall 2025 Wines:
Club 6 members receive: 2 x 2023 Weir Vineyard Pinot, 3 x 2022 Oppenlander Vineyard Pinot, 1 x 2021 Caballo Blanco Vineyard Carignan, where the 98 year old vines are nestled in a hidden valley (picture below of the vineyard in Springtime).
Club 12 members will receive 4 bottles of each of these wines.
Spring time at Caballo Blanco Vineyard in a rounded hidden valley in the hills between the Anderson Valley and Ukiah Valley.
2023 Weir Vineyard Pinot Noir, Yorkville Highlands
Just 3 barrels made.
The Weir Vineyard sits at 1000ft in the breezy folds of the Yorkville Highlands appellation, amid rolling grasslands dotted with live oaks. Route 128 winds gently nearby, threading through a landscape of quiet farmsteads, towards the Anderson Valley.
The vineyard was originally established by Bill Weir who’s thoughtful dry farming yielded fruit of remarkable intensity. His grown children now continue their late father’s passion, producing some of the best-known fruit in Northern California.
We use a mix of 2A, Rochioli and DRC Pinot clones to make this blend, unique amongst the Baxter range. The interesting mix of clones makes for a complex and well-structured wine. In addition to a fresh ripe strawberry palate, it possesses violet florals, cherry-pie, plum skin and dusty spice.
As is our house-style, this wine is aged exclusively in neutral French oak. Delicious now through 2031. Allow the wine to breathe for about 30 minutes to reveal its full spectrum of aromatics and flavor.
2022 Oppenlander Vineyard Pinot Noir, Comptche
The 2022 Oppenlander Pinot Noir has just come into its own—a wine that rewards patience with poise, depth, and unmistakable coastal character.
There’s a reason why Phillip’s wife Claire unceremoniously nicknamed this wine the ‘everlasting gobstopper’: it has layers and layers of flavor that reveal themselves the longer you enjoy it. Another, more professional reviewer once called it a ‘velvet-lined silk purse’, so I think we’ll go with that description ;)
In the glass, the 2022 Baxter Openlander Pinot Noir opens with lifted aromatics of wild strawberry and black tea carried on a whisper of coastal fog. Both oppulent and elegant in body, this wine fills the palate with pure flavors of mulled strawberry and fresh blackberry wrapped in fine tannins. The mid-palate is buoyed by a lingering cranberry backbone that leads into a sophisticated finish.
Decant now to enjoy its unfolding complexity, or cellar through 2031.
2021 Caballo Blanco Vineyard Carignan, Mendocino
This 98 year old Carignan vine is a beast.
98-year old, dry farmed, organically farmed.
2.5 barrels made.
The Caballo Blanco vineyard sits in a small hidden valley of it’s own, nestled between the Anderson Valley and the Ukiah Valley. The vines are head-trained, so they are stand-alone (rather than being trained along wires). In this photo you can see the thickness of the 98 year old vine that Phillip is stood next to!
When Phillip first used this vineyard to make Carignan back in 2003, it was one of very few domestic single vineyard Carignans we knew of. Since then, the variety has enjoyed a come-back - as others too realized it’s value - thanks to a trend towards more esoteric wines and lesser-known varieties.
Incredibly low yields of 1.5 tons per acre, combined with organic, dry farming and well drained gravely soil produce a wine with excellent flavor concentration.
The nose is powerful and intricate with aromas of Maraschino cherries, violets, exotic spice and tobacco leaf. The mouth is layered with black cherry, boysenberry, plum and graphite. A rich round mouthfeel, balanced with bright acids and a linear fruit focus give this wine the duality of being enjoyable young as well as the ability to age.
Try our pairing recipe below! Enjoy now through 2030.
Our Fall 2025 recipe…
Pan seared pork chops with cherry-thyme sauce
With our 2021 CABALLO blanco vineyard CArignan
This warming pork dish makes an ideal companion to our 2021 Caballo Blanco Vineyard Carignan. It’s inspiration comes from our home’s surroundings: the thyme just outside the kitchen door, as well as the neighbor’s cherries that are so plentiful in the summer we end up freezing some to enjoy in the Fall and Winter months. We initially tried this recipe with the Oppenlander Pinot, but it’s definitely best as a Carignan pairing - the sauce really echoes the cherry pop of the Carignan!
INGREDIENTS
Serves: 2
2 tablespoons Olive oil
2 pork chops, boneless
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 shallot, finely diced
½ cup red wine
⅓ cup chicken stock
1 cup frozen cherries, pitted and halved
2 Tablespoons thyme leaves (plus sprigs for garnish).
METHOD
Trim the fat off the pork chops
Place the chops between two pieces of plastic wrap and (this is the fun part!) beat them briefly with a rolling pin to make them thinner.
Soften the garlic and shallot in olive oil on low heat in a heavy-based skillet. Remove to a bowl.
Turn the heat up to medium-high. Add the chops to the skillet and cook them for about 4-5 minutes per side (depending on their thickness). We’re looking for cooked-through chops with some brown scorch marks to bring out caramelized flavors. Remove and set aside on a warm, covered plate.
Deglaze the pan with the red wine. Let it bubble away for a minute or so, then add the onion, garlic, cherries and thyme. Stir in the Chicken stock.
Reduce the sauce for 2 or 3 minutes (until there’s a little less liquid) before pouring over each plated pork chop.
Garnish with thyme sprigs.
Serving Suggestion
We suggest either creamy polenta or potato-celariac mash. Roasted rainbow carrots lend sweetness and a pop of color.
Enjoying your wines and want to restock?
For members re-ordering a mixed six pack of wines prior to the next shipment we will apply complimentary ground shipping. (Must include at least four reds in the box please). Simply visit the store and note ‘Reorder’ in the customer comments box. Log into your account to view member pricing.
wishing you a happy and cozy fall!
Phillip & Claire Baxter.