Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Plush and expansive from start to finish, this is an impressive wine with length and breadth. Jolts of well-defined flavors of cherry and vanilla meet spice and earth, making for a contemplative, tasty wine. Editors’ Choice
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Wine Spectator
Fresh, vibrant, rich and graceful, with a firm core of dusty raspberry, anise, earth, cedar and graphite flavors. Impressive, showing depth without weight. Best from 2020 through 2028.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley is medium ruby-purple colored and scented of black cherries, warm cranberries and mulberries with nuances of violets, dark chocolate and licorice. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the mouth with ripe black cherries and spicy layers, framed by plush tannins and a burst of freshness, finishing on an earthy note.
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.