Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
This grows at an estate vineyard on Guerneville Road in the Santa Rosa Plains. It comes across as less ambitious than some of Balletto’s other 2015s, but it’s all about dark cherry fruit, crunchy and fresh, completely filling the texture to capture pinot noir’s silken, satin-rich feel at its best. There’s a buzz of honeyed tannins that provides the wine its staying power and, eventually, with air, lends it a sense of grandeur.
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.