Emeritus Hallberg Ranch Pinot Noir 2011
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The 2011 vintage provided a rare occasion in California to make a wine elegant in style, more delicate, more fragrant and more feminine in nature than usual. This is a joyful wine that retains its freshness yet remains reserved. It is lively with vibrant acidity that carries red fruit aromas of strawberry and raspberry. This is a very special vintage for us—the year dry farming finally fulfilled its promise.
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Impressive, offering richness, vibrancy and subtle charm, marked by snappy blackberry, red berry, spice, sage and underbrush notes. Ends with a minerally edge that holds the flavors.
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In 1999, legendary vintner Brice Cutrer Jones founded Emeritus with the goal of creating a grand cru-caliber estate capable of making the New World’s finest Pinot Noir. To achieve this goal, Brice and renowned Vineyard Manager Kirk Lokka planted two remarkable vineyards: Hallberg Ranch in the Russian River Valley, and Pinot Hill in the Sebastopol Hills. Totaling 150 acres of dry-farmed vines, these vineyards have emerged as two of California’s most revered winegrowing sites. A true family-run winery, Emeritus is guided by Brice’s daughter, Mari Jones, the winery’s dynamic president, and renowned Winemaker David Lattin, who has earned acclaim for crafting wines of incomparable elegance and complexity.
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.