Winemaker Notes
The 2020 Mink Pinot Noir exhibits its typical bright and refreshing notes of pomegranate, cherry, and fresh herbs. It gradually opens to deeper and darker berry fruit, blueberry and plum. In the months after release, the wine will continue to pick up depth and density, as is normally the case. Its enchanting mouthwatering minerality invite sip after sip together with bite after bite. A lively wine at release but it will continue to improve over the next
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From a vineyard parcel planted on volcanic soils next to the winery, the 2021 Pinot Noir Mink Vineyard offers up a beguiling array of floral and spice notes, including hints of cardamom and rose petals, plus cherries and strawberries. It's medium-bodied yet expansive on the palate, with a delicate, silky mouthfeel backed by a wiry spine that extends through the finish.
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.”
Situated in the southeastern corner of Napa Valley in the Vaca range, the vineyards of the Coombsville AVA enjoy a long growing season mitigated by cool, San Pablo Bay fog.