Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Pinot Noir Aidan (445 cases) emerges from Dijon clones 115 and 777 planted in the cool Wild Rose Vineyard in the Russian River. This beauty reveals notes of strawberry jam, plums, blackcurrants, cherries, resiny pine forest, unsmoked cigar tobacco and a hint of cloves. Fresh, full-bodied and complex, it should drink well for a decade.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Nicely focused on very pure cherry-like fruit with subtle accents of dried brush sitting quietly to the side, this rounded, slightly fleshy, full-bodied working counts excellent balance among its many assets. While moderately rich and fairly easy to taste for the most part, it firms and tightens just a touch at the finish in a way that implies more to come if it is allowed to rest for even two or three years.
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.