Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Raspberry syrup and rose hips mark the entry of this wine, an relatively affordable offering from the appellation. Softly layered in red and black cherry as well as more brambly blackberry, it takes on additional complexity in its specks of baking spice, mostly cardamom, before a finish robust in tannin says adieu.
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Wine & Spirits
Brian Maloney makes this mostly from an estate vineyard on Olivet Road, that fruit augmented by four other vineyards, including two cool sites in the Sebastopol Hills. This has an appetizing warmth to its wild strawberry flavor, a ripeness that feels earned rather than pushed. It’s sleek and lively, content to be delicious rather than complex. (1,000 cases)
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Wine Spectator
Slowly builds intensity and complexity, offering a taut range of spicy wild berry, raspberry, cherry, spice and crushed rock notes. Most impressive on the finish, where the flavors take on a delicate, supple charm. Drink now through 2024.
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.