Winemaker Notes
Aromas of vanilla, cassis and menthol lift from the glass. On the palate, an array of red and dark berries are met with a medium-bodied, silky finish.
Butternut Pinot Noir pairs well with grilled salmon, roasted chicken with seasonal vegetables, or a hearty beef stew.
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
New to the Miller Family Wine Company portfolio, Butternut is a well-known brand that sources grapes throughout California to produce wines that overdeliver in quality and price. This expression features savory aromas of tobacco and baking spices that thread through a perfume of ripe black cherry; on the palate, deep, shadowed notes of earth and cedar are lifted by fine acidity. The fleshy weightiness of the wine’s texture complements its serious, complex nature. Cocoa and sandalwood round out the finish.
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.