Winemaker Notes
Supple Pinot Noir from Sonoma County’s uncontested cool-climate capital, the Russian River Valley. The Cusp fully embraces the tension between Russian River fog and Sonoma sunshine. A proudly new-world Pinot, with a full, round body; beautifully balanced and unexpectedly complex.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 El Pino Club Cusp Pinot Noir is palate-filling and complete. TASTING NOTES: This wine is persistent with its ripe fruit aromas and flavors that stay balance through the wine's finish. Pair it with lightly-seasoned lamb stews. (Tasted: August 5, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
Juicy, expansive and fleshy in red licorice, strawberry and raspberry, this wine is thick and rounded. Cola and cinnamon notes linger alongside a finishing touch of toasted oak.
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Wine Spectator
Fresh cherry and dried raspberry flavors show a lot of cedar spice accents in this red, with a firm, minerally finish that has plenty of toasty notes. Drink now through 2023.
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.