Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This is great, inviting varietal wine, juicy in blueberry and lavender with an intensity fruity middle. Varietal notions of exotic spice and earthiness complement the up-front richness that makes the wine so inviting, giving it complexity and lasting intrigue.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley was brought up in 22% new French oak and offers a light ruby color as well as spicy notes of raspberries, strawberries, flowers, and incense. It's a charming forward, ready to go effort that has plenty of character.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Pinot Noir Torrey Hill Vineyard is pale ruby in the glass and has an earthy/meaty nose with notes of aniseed, licorice and dried flowers over a bright red cherry and berry core plus peppery hints. The palate is light-bodied, red fruited and very soft, with an herbal finish.
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.