Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The most impressive Pinot here is the 2012 Pinot Noir Isabelle. A selection of the top barrels, it - like the Knox Alexander release - was barrel fermented and aged 20 months in new French oak, of which it's soaked up every trace. Showing distinctly Burgundian notes of sweet red and black fruits, sous bois, underbrush and spice, it's medium bodied, beautifully textured, elegant and layered, with nicely integrated acidity coming through on the finish. Drink it anytime over the coming decade.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Less reliant on concentration and ripeness than most of its highrated brethren in this Issue, the Isabelle bottling has a lighter and almost ethereal nature on the one hand and genuine complexity on the other. Its aromatic focus on red cherries gains added range and admirable depth from its nuanced notes of raspberries, dried flowers, sweet herbs and hints of green olives for good measure. Medium-full in body and balanced from front to back, it carries emerging suppleness at the front and the promise of more to come with age. It may not demand more than a year of two but will keep improving after that.
Internationally recognized for gorgeous, pure fruit combined with great elegance, California Pinot noir thrives among the state’s cooler, coastal zones. Characterized by eclectic flavors and aromas of strawberry, black cherry, plum and potpourri with notes of forest floor, mushroom or black tea, the best California Pinot noir boast a supple texture and good acidity, giving them the ability to improve with age.
Credited with the beginning of Pinot noir’s glory in California, two growers, Joe Rochioli and Joseph Swan in the late 1960s independently planted Pinot noir vineyards in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County. Today Sonoma County remains the leading producer of Pinot noir in the state, and Pinot noir is the leading red grape in the county, achieving its highest potential, in the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast.
Other coastal appellations where Pinot noir flourishes include Carneros, Anderson Valley and most of the Central Coast.