Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesThis vineyard-designate wine offers an inviting array of white pepper, cardamom and rose petal. Layered in complex, interwoven tannins and oak, it has tension and freshness in abundance, with deft flavors of stone, plum and dark cherry.
This wine’s velvet richness has the dark savor of roast squab. Its fruit is precisely detailed, with a spectrum of cherry flavors, from skin to flesh to pit. Tight and juicy, this has the earthiness to serve with braised wild duck or other meaty game
Smoked earth, black cherries, Christmas spice, and a hint of potpourri and earth all emerge from the 2017 Pinot Noir Chappellet Grower Collection Dutton Ranch, and it's a more fleshy, rounded, upfront Pinot Noir compared to the Sonoma Coast and Petaluma release. Nevertheless, it still has good density, as well as ripe tannins, and is an outstanding wine.
The Chappellets' romance with Pritchard Hill began when Donn and Molly Chappellet first glimpsed the mountain's spectacular vistas in the late 1960s. Inspired by the notion that Bacchus loves the hills, Donn and Molly followed the advice of legendary winemaker André Tchelistcheff and settled on the rocky eastern slopes of the Napa Valley. There, on the mountain’s serene and picturesque hillsides, the Chappellets established their home and winery, raising their children and cultivating the vineyards.
Since being founded by Donn and Molly in 1967, Chappellet has earned acclaim championing the robust power and complexity of wines crafted from mountain grapes. At the same time, Chappellet has helped to establish Pritchard Hill as one of California’s most revered winegrowing sites. To honor the mountain's rich, expressive character, the winemaking team focuses on creating extraordinary, age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignons that embody the intensity and finesse of fruit from Pritchard Hill.
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.