Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Blueberry, cherry and strawberry character throughout. Medium to full body, velvety tannins and a fruity finish. Delicious.
-
Wine Enthusiast
A sweet-seeming oakiness fills the aroma of this full-bodied, ripe-tasting wine from a Pinot Noir specialist. It smells like vanilla, cinnamon, and maple and tastes generous and rich, with layers of cherry and cola flavors. The texture is soft and full, keeping the ripe fruit lingering on the finish.
Cellar Selection -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale to medium ruby-purple in color, the 2014 Pinot Noir Ten Oaks has notes of warm cranberries, kirsch and fertile loam with underlying wafts of roses and fallen leaves. Light to medium-bodied, this is a delicately styled expression with lots of lively red berry and earth flavors framed by grainy tannins and a racy backbone, finishing long.
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.