Winemaker Notes
The 2021 season treated us to a mild year without any heat spikes, allowing Dutton-Goldfield to hang their Fox Den vineyard until it was its peak of ripeness. The wines from this vintage share a juicy quality and reflect their vineyards well. Similar to 2019, the texture veers to rich satin this vintage. Lifted aromas in the nose lead with bright sweet black cherry framed in sandalwood and floral notes. The mouth is dense and vibrant with strawberry compote backed up with forest floor and a savory herbal note that adds complexity. Firm but fine tannins carry fruit and spice to a long finish.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Excellent concentration and a firm, tangy texture are impressive in this appropriately tannic, well-balanced wine. Abundant black fruits and oak spices such as cinnamon, cedar and toast are generous on the palate and lingering on the finish.
-
Wine Spectator
This is stylish and seductive, with singed red tea and alder hints leading off, followed by notes of warmed cherry compote and blackberry reduction. A subtle sanguine echo through the finish adds a nice counterpoint. Drink now through 2030. 495 cases made.
-
Jeb Dunnuck
A dark ruby/magenta hue, the 2021 Pinot Noir Fox Den Vineyard is ripe with warming notes of tarry earth, forest floor, black cherries, and tea leaf. Raised for 18 months in 55% new French oak, this medium-bodied Pinot Noir fills the palate with a broad-shouldered feel, ripe tannins, and a touch of gamey earth on the finish. It’s a ripe but well-made wine to enjoy over the coming 5-7 years.
Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are the mainstays of the Dutton-Goldfield production. Using fruit from carefully chosen vineyards, Dan Goldfield produces wine that reflects the natural tendencies of the area: crisp, well-structured wines that display the complexity, balance and intensity that the partners believe are key to world-class wines.
Dutton-Goldfield Winery's first releases were a Dutton Ranch Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the 1998 vintage. Today Dan and Steve continue to produce Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Dutton Ranch plantings, numerous vineyard-designated wines, as well as small lots of old vine Zinfandel and hillside Syrah. The Dutton-Goldfield wines are crafted using traditional techniques such as barrel and malolactic fermentation for the Chardonnay, and open top fermentation for the Pinot Noir.
The winery is a partnership of friends, colleagues, neighbors and families. The wines reflect this spectacular part of Northern California where the grapes are grown, the superb quality of fruit from perfectly placed and planted vineyards, and the work of an appreciative winemaker.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Situated on the foggier and colder western edge of the Russian River Valley, almost abutting the Sonoma Coast appellation, Green Valley is one of California’s most reputable Chardonnay and Pinot noir producing regions. It is also a wonderful source of sparkling wines made from these varieties.
Goldridge soils abound throughout the Green Valley appellation. This fine, dark, sandy loam and fractured sandstone is derived from the remains of ancient inland seabeds dating back three to five million years. It is valuable for high quality grape growing because of its excellent drainage and low fertility.