Cordant Winery spotlight
Scott Stelzle is on camera at Cordant in Tin City, Paso Robles, on the Life Between the Vines film. He is the winemaker of this 2022 Solomon Hills Vineyard Pinot Noir.
The market on this bottle
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2022 Cordant Winery Solomon Hills Vineyard Pinot Noir, Santa Maria Valley, USA
Scott Stelzle's first Cordant vintage from Solomon Hills, Santa Maria fog and raspberry, a 94-point Pinot you can open at twenty-nine dollars.
The 2022 Cordant Solomon Hills Vineyard Pinot Noir is 100 percent Santa Maria Valley fruit from the Miller family's coastal site: raspberry, cherry, toast, and spice after a restraint-led elevage, now $29.
A Cordant bottle from Solomon Hills, not a borrowed vineyard name
Solomon Hills is the Miller family's other Santa Maria site, farmed by the same team as Bien Nacido, closer to the ocean, sandy loam, fog and wind that keep Pinot on acidity. Cordant is David and DeAnn Taylor's Central Coast house. 2022 was Scott Stelzle's first vintage there after more than twenty years in Paso Robles. Wine Enthusiast 94. This is Cordant's wine from that vineyard, not the estate's own Solomon Hills bottling poured under another label.
The house
David and DeAnn Taylor founded Cordant in 2014 to bottle Pinot, Chardonnay, and Rhone varieties from premium Central Coast sites. Scott Stelzle took the 2022 harvest.
The wine
100% Pinot Noir from Solomon Hills. 14.2% ABV. Cool-climate fruit, toast and spice in support, Wine Enthusiast 94.
The site
Sandy loam, Pacific fog, afternoon wind. The same Miller farming family as Bien Nacido, a more coastal reading of Santa Maria Pinot.
The drinker
Raspberry and cherry first. Serve 55 to 60 F. Twenty minutes of air. Roasted salmon or duck with cherry sauce.
Raspberry and cherry, then toast and spice
Cordant's 2022 from Solomon Hills reads as ripe raspberry and cherry with toasty oak and spice, held by the acidity sandy loam and ocean air give this site. It is Pinot with Santa Maria lift, not a heavy California costume.
A hot, compressed harvest. Stelzle traveled the coast to pick for place rather than a single recipe. Solomon Hills' fog and wind kept this Pinot in the raspberry-and-spice register.
Raspberry, cherry, toast, cracked spice, a coastal herbal lift.
Medium, 14.2% ABV, Santa Maria acidity, integrated oak, no heavy jam line.
Spice, toast, persistent fruit. Serve 55 to 60 F. Twenty minutes of air.
Solomon Hills fruit, then a light hand in the cellar
Cordant positions this wine around Solomon Hills Vineyard fruit, where Pacific fog and cool afternoon breezes preserve freshness while long ripening builds flavor. Stelzle's stated Cordant method is as natural as possible: no needless alterations, native yeast when it works, and vineyard truth ahead of a house recipe. That is why raspberry and cherry stay in front of toast.
The Miller family farms Solomon Hills on sandy loam in the same transverse valley as Bien Nacido. Ocean air is the method. Cordant is the producer on this label.
Serve 55 to 60 F. Twenty minutes of air is enough. This is a food Pinot, not a cocktail oak bomb.
A Paso house, a Santa Maria vineyard
Cordant is a family project from Paso Robles. Solomon Hills is the Santa Maria site they chose for this Pinot.
David and DeAnn Taylor founded Cordant in 2014 to bottle Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Rhone varieties from vineyards stretching the Central Coast, including Bien Nacido, Solomon Hills, Santa Rita Hills, and the Santa Lucia Highlands.
In 2022 they brought on Scott Stelzle, a twenty-year Paso winemaker, to take the harvest. His first Cordant vintage includes this bottle.
Solomon Hills is the Miller family's coastal Santa Maria vineyard. Cordant is the producer. The site is the argument.
Salmon, duck, and a cool Pinot glass
Raspberry Pinot wants rich fish and a little smoke. Horseradish cream and cherry sauce both give the wine fat to cut and fruit to echo.
Two plates. One roasted salmon with beets and horseradish cream. One duck breast with cherry sauce. Both can take Solomon Hills acidity.
Serve 55 to 60 F. Twenty minutes of air. No hard decant.
Roasted Salmon, Beets, and Potatoes with Horseradish Cream
Roast salmon, earthy beets, and a horseradish cream. Enough richness for Santa Maria Pinot.
Why it works: Horseradish lifts cherry and herb. Beet earth echoes the mineral line. Salmon fat meets the quiet oak.
View Recipe for roasted salmon with horseradish cream (opens in a new tab)
Sweet-Tart Duck Breast with Fresh Cherry Sauce
Crisp-skinned duck, fresh cherries, and a bright pan sauce when the Pinot is the table wine.
Why it works: Cherry mirrors the red fruit. Duck fat softens savory tannin while spice stays in the glass.
View Recipe for sweet-tart duck breast with fresh cherry sauce (opens in a new tab)Put this Cordant Solomon Hills in the cart
Scott Stelzle's first Cordant vintage. Solomon Hills Vineyard Pinot. Twenty-nine dollars.
Put it in the cart. This is Cordant's Santa Maria Pinot with the vineyard named, and the producer named honestly.
