Winemaker Notes
The inviting and forward fruity aromas of black cherry, pomegranate, plum and orange peel are complemented by notes of clove, pipe tobacco, bay leaf and rose petal. The flavors which echo the aromas are broad and intense with copious fruit on the mid-palate and a seamless, silky texture. While there is all the balance and concentration to amply reward cellaring, this wine is flat out delicious now.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale ruby-purple colored, the 2015 Pinot Noir leaps from the glass with gregarious kirsch, fresh raspberries and wild strawberry scents with touches of rose hip tea, lavender, cinnamon stick, underbrush and dried herbs. The medium-bodied palate possesses bags of finesse and wonderful vibrancy, with the perfumed red fruit well framed by fine-grained tannins and great freshness, finishing on a lingering floral tea note.
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.”
Perhaps the most historically significant appellation in Sonoma County, the Sonoma Valley is home to both Buena Vista winery, California's oldest commercial winery, and Gundlach Bundschu winery, California's oldest family-run winery.
It is also one of the more geologically and climactically diverse districts. The valley includes and overlaps four distinct Sonoma County sub-appellations, including Carneros, Moon Mountain District, Sonoma Mountain and Bennett Valley. With mountains, benchlands, plains, abundant sunshine and the cooling effects of the nearby Pacific, this appellation can successfully produce a wide range of grape varieties. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gewürztraminer, and most notably, Zinfandel all thrive here. Ancient Zinfandel vines over 100 years old produce small crops of concentrated, spicy fruit, which in turn make some of the Valley's most unique wines. These can also be made as “field blends” (wines made from a mix of grape varieties grown in the same vineyard) along with Petite Sirah, Carignan and Alicante Bouschet.