Winemaker Notes
Enticing, rising aromatics and deep, intense flavors: wild raspberry, hibiscus, pomegranate, cranberry, pine needle, orange bitters, and lilac. Immediate generosity and breadth, with wonderful fruit purity and vibrancy throughout. Deep, broad tannins and coastal acidity bring length and energy to the finish. The wine continues to evolve as its flavors unwind. A beauty. Drink between late 2026 and 2040.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Pure, pretty, elegant, fresh and floral, showing nice density with flavors and aromas of hibiscus, raspberries and strawberries. Medium-bodied with a bright, lovely texture. Beautiful and drinkable, making you go back to the glass. Drink or hold.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Fully destemmed and always the first Pinot picked each year, the 2024 Pinot Noir DuMOL Estate Vineyard offers crisp tension, bright red fruit, wildflowers, and brambly herbs. Medium-bodied, with nervous energy and mouthwatering lift, drink it over the coming 15-20 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2024 Pinot Noir Estate Vineyard matured in around one-third new French oak for 15 months. It has alluring scents of pomegranate, rhubarb and strawberry layered with wafts of Fernet, hibiscus and rooibos tea. The medium-bodied palate is elegantly styled with perfumed, high-toned red fruit. It’s framed by lacy tannins and vibrant acidity and has a very long, mouthwatering finish.
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Wine Spectator
The 2024 Pinot Noir DuMOL Estate Vineyard opens with crushed rose petal, ripe red cherry fruit, blood orange, chalk and white pepper. Medium in body and supremely polished, the 2024 is an absolute delight. This is a decidedly restrained style, and yet there's lovely depth. Pretty floral and savory top notes extend the close. This is all Calera and Swan done with fully destemmed fruit, even though the aromatics do suggest some whole clusters.
Respect for the land
DuMOL is a “vineyard up” winery with a fully integrated approach to winegrowing and winemaking. DuMOL planted its high-density estate vineyards and has farmed many of California’s most renowned vineyards for more than two decades.
Commitment to craft
DuMOL sticks to what works and is focused on the fundamentals, finding inspiration in master, visionary producers around the world as DuMOL continually hones its craft—never imitating, ever refining.
Connected on a personal level
This is a project that comes from who the DuMOL team is and what they love. A deep connection is paramount: to the land, the wines, and the customers.
Heritage and experience
Founded in 1996, DuMOL is a latter-day pioneer in the Russian River Valley. Winemaker, Viticulturist and Partner, Andy Smith, farmed the region for nearly a decade before joining in 1999, and Associate Winemakers Julie Cooper and Jenna Davis, and Cellar Master Jaime Eufracio, have over 40 years combined experience at DuMOL.
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.