Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2003 Pinot Noir Estate, from Dehlinger’s hilltop vineyards, is a lush, textured effort revealing sweet black cherry, raspberry, plum, and allspice notes, a lush, medium to full-bodied palate, sweet tannin, and a distinctive opulence as well as earthiness. It should drink well for 7-8 years, although this estate’s Pinots can last longer than one suspects. I had my last bottle of their 1994 just recently, and it was still drinking beautifully. Kudos to Tom Dehlinger, a guy who seems to be content to stay under the radar and simply make an assortment of very fine as well as realistically priced wines!
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Another fine Pinot from Dehlinger, this one carries the familial traits of ripeness and richness but differs from its mate above in being both a little brighter in its fruit while carrying a somewhat lowered sense of concentration. Call it a small choice in style, if you will, because both wines are fleshy and deep and both ask for earlier rather than later drinking.
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.