"On Will Berliner’s time nurturing his vineyards vines attest to Cloudburst’s excellence, reinforcing the seat of winemaking’s three pillars (the minutiae of details: in the cellar, the soils health, the vineyards canopy and management) is the core to making remarkable wine. To wit: “He was naturally learned; he needed not the spectacle of books to read nature. He looked inwards, and found her there.” John Dryden, British poet (18th century quote)
A self-taught winemaker, Will has instinctual harmony with his vineyards & cellar coaxing vinous greatness from alliances drawn from his philosophy and grapes. The wines are sophisticated with expressive, pure personalities that speak of place and vintage.
2010 Chardonnay - Premier release. The 2010 Cloudburst displays fruity aromatics without weightiness, a string quartet of flavor – complex and precisely clear. The wines clarity is the definition of limpidity, with a richly textured mouth-feel and length. The wine is devoid of obtrusive oak or excessive buttery-ness and is well integrated, seemingly sure of its intentions at three years age. The 2010 vintage displays the wines agility akin to a skilled young surfer shooting a 3-meter tube, effortlessly maintaining a balanced trajectory.
2011 Chardonnay – The 2011 displays deeply resonant aromas, the hinted scent and suave texture of fine kidskin gloves with a lanolin-like richness replacing the buttery-ness. Today, tasting slightly backward yet guilded and rounder than the '10 vintage, this wine shares the same vineyards fingerprint complex length and finish. Dare I say, a tenderly haunting, reflective refrain of Erik Satie’s "Gymnopedie 1?”
2010 Cabernet Sauvignon - Premier release. The requisite youthful deep purple color of black fruit (a dead ringer for left bank Bordeaux) with chocolate covered cherries and emerging St. Julien style baking spices and cigar box aromas, displaying the hallmark of sweet vanilla and well-judged oak with evident tannins that’re completely integrated. This sumptuous wine will sing with vigorous decanting. Cloudburst wines reveal absolute spot on professional winemaking."