Winemaker Notes
This wine pairs well with Alaskan salmon or other rich fish.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Give this dry elegant Pinot 4–5 years in the cellar to soften and mellow. Right now, the tannins dominate, making it tough. Underneath are fascinatingly earthy flavors of cherries, cola, mushrooms and exotic spices.
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Wine & Spirits
Tight in its cool-climate scent of tart cherries and red apple skin, this broadens to a juicy, clean flavor of black cherries and peach. It's fragrant and bright, then chocolatey and ripe, a firm pinot noir to serve with roast quail.
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Wine Spectator
This firm yet supple red shows a vivid focus on wild berry and raspberry fruit, which picks up a peppery, spicey edge, leading to an aftertaste of wilted rose and spice.
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.