Dutton Estate Karmen Isabella Pinot Noir 2011
-
Enthusiast
Wine
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
This is a standout wine for the vintage, but it's too immature to fully appreciate now. The palate is ripe and rich with cherry and raspberry flavors touched with a briary, sappy aroma. Mushroom and cola notes are dark and brooding, giving the wine the backbone to negotiate the next 7–8 years in the cellar. Cellar Selection.
Other Vintages
2013-
Enthusiast
Wine
-
Enthusiast
Wine
Joe and Tracy’s agricultural heritage is deeply rooted in Sebastopol, as Tracy’s great-grandparents began farming apples in the 1920’s and today continues growing apples and grapes at the family’s recognized farm and food production facility in Forestville at Kozlowski Farms.
Joe is co-owner of Dutton Ranch, which was founded in 1964 by his parents. Today, Dutton Ranch farms 1300 acres of grapes and 250 acres of apples, all within the Green Valley-Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast appellations.
While the Russian River Valley is a large appellation with multiple climate zones and soil types, it is best known for cool-climate varieties, with Pinot Noir as the most celebrated. The grapes benefit from a reliable late afternoon flow of Pacific Ocean fog through the Petaluma Gap and along the Russian River Valley that ensures slow and steady ripening and the preservation of grape acidity. Today many of California’s most highly regarded Pinot Noir vineyards are in the Russian River Valley, along with its sub-appellation, Green Valley.
Historically Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs had bright red fruit and delicate earthy, mineral notes. But changes in viticultural and winemaking practices have led to stylistic changes in some of the region’s wines. Adjustments to canopy management, among other techniques, have resulted in riper fruit and bolder wines as well. These show flavors of black cherry, blackberry, cola, spice and darker, loamy earth tones, accenting traditional Pinot Noir notes of strawberry, raspberry and light cherry.