Walt Clos Pepe Pinot Noir 2017
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Wine
Enthusiast -
Jeb
Dunnuck
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
On the nose, the 2017 Clos Pepe Pinot Noir features dark cherry, with hints of pomegranate and violets. The palate opens up beautifully and is full and lush with a bright minerality - a distinguishing characteristic of the Clos Pepe site. Flavors of dark berry coulis mingle with fresh earth and hints of smoked paprika and salinity. The wine is enhanced by oak, which brings length and a warm brown spice character to lead into a textured mineral finish.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Powerful aromas of black cherry, tobacco, clove, chocolate and oak are heavy but pleasing on this bold style of Pinot Noir. The lush, delicious and potent palate delivers more of the same, with black-cherry and tobacco flavors sprinkled with crushed nutmeg and vanilla.
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Jeb Dunnuck
This estate always makes a solid wine. The 2017 Pinot Noir Clos Pepe Vineyard comes from a great vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills and offers a ripe, powerful style as well as notes of blackberries, cassis, toasted spice, dried flowers, and subtle background oak. Ripe and medium to full-bodied, with sweet tannins, it's a big mouthful of Sta. Rita Hills fruit that stays balanced and light on its feet.
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WALT is dedicated to the production of premier Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the Pacific Coast's most distinctive vineyard sites, spanning nearly 1000 miles and including Sta. Rita Hills, Sonoma County, Anderson Valley, and the Willamette Valley. Their philosophy is that of precision, non-interventionist winemaking, thereby allowing the wines to naturally and honestly express the character of the site where the wines are grown. Under the artisanship of Director of Winemaking Steve Leveque and Winemaker Megan Gunderson, WALT Wines will continue to evolve and develop.
Located in the heart of Sonoma, just off the historic Sonoma Plaza, WALT Wines focuses on sourcing Pinot Noir fruit from premiere appellations stretching from Oregon's Willamette Valley to the Santa Rita Hills in California to craft the finest wines possible.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
A superior source of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills is the coolest, westernmost sub-region of the larger Santa Ynez Valley appellation within Santa Barbara County. This relatively new AVA is unquestionably one to keep an eye on.
The climate of Sta. Rita Hills is a natural match for Chardonnay and Pinot noir, thanks to the crisp ocean breezes and well-drained, limestone-rich calcareous soil. Here, grapes ripen just enough, while retaining brisk acidity and harmonious balance.