Winemaker Notes
Cuvée Number One delicately balances the finest attributes of two distinct areas within the Russian River appellation: Green Valley and Santa Rosa Plain. This cuvée is comprised of small, individual row selections of two Russian River Valley vineyards, each influenced by their own unique relationship with the cool, maritime microclimate of this hallowed AVA. Clusters ripen slowly, allowing them to achieve perfect ripeness, intense aromatics, velvet-like tannins and an array of red fruits of earthy characters.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
I was blown away by the 2019 Pinot Noir Cuvee Number One. This gorgeous wine offers a thrilling nose of black raspberries as well as strawberry-like fruit intermixed with wildflowers, loamy soil, and leafy herbs. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it’s about as seamless as they come, with ultra-fine tannins, a great mid-palate, and subtle background oak that will integrate with a year or two of bottle age. The purity of fruit, as well as the balance, are spot on. This is a remarkable wine as well as the finest vintage of this cuvée that I’ve tasted.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
So keenly focused on ripened red cherries with hints of dried fruits and even a whiff of dried flowers, this lovely, mid-depth effort finds firm but inviting balance in its mix of early suppleness on the palate and firmer yet lengthy finishing notes. As with many Pinots, it could be drinkable today, yet this is one that wants to be hidden away for up to five years while it gains ever more sophistication.
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Wine Spectator
Elegant and rich-tasting, with expressive red fruit and berry flavors that are backed by medium-grained tannins and crunchy acidity. There's a light creaminess midpalate, with a finish filled with toastiness.
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James Suckling
Sweet-strawberry, watermelon and citrus aromas follow through to a medium body with fine tannins and a delicious, light finish.
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.”
Situated on the foggier and colder western edge of the Russian River Valley, almost abutting the Sonoma Coast appellation, Green Valley is one of California’s most reputable Chardonnay and Pinot noir producing regions. It is also a wonderful source of sparkling wines made from these varieties.
Goldridge soils abound throughout the Green Valley appellation. This fine, dark, sandy loam and fractured sandstone is derived from the remains of ancient inland seabeds dating back three to five million years. It is valuable for high quality grape growing because of its excellent drainage and low fertility.