Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale ruby at its core, the 2020 Pinot Noir offers a classic and delightful nose of Bing cherries, wild strawberry and rhubarb with hints of dried fern. Medium-bodied, the palate is focused and precise, offering succulent acidity across the mid-palate before gliding to a food-friendly and delightful finish. I’m going back for another sip. Give it a try. Rating:90+
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2020 Brew Cru Pinot Noir is focused and firm on the palate. TASTING NOTES: This wine exhibits aromas and flavors of dried herbs, earthy notes, black fruits, licorice, and oak. Serve it with grilled lamb chops. (Tasted: November 16, 2022, San Francisco, CA)
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 relatively cool, maritime climate area, Walker Bay includes three important wards: Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley and Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge. These sites benefit from the cooling ocean winds and are reputed for the production of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinotage.