Winemaker Notes
Dark cherry, concentrated blueberry, Asian spice and forest floor aromas are complemented by a broad and pliant texture and a mocha-spice finish. Black cherry, black tea and leather flavors all give this well-structured wine a wonderful combination of drinkability and ageability.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale to medium ruby-purple colored, the 2017 Pinot Noir MacLean's Block gives up exuberant baked black cherries, warm raspberries and cranberry sauce scents plus suggestions of cinnamon stick, cloves, lavender and incense. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is completely filled with black and red berries plus loads of earthy accents and a finely grained texture, finishing long and layered.
Rating: 94+ -
Jeb Dunnuck
Named for Don & Jennifer Hartford's son MacLean and from a vineyard located east of the town of Occidental, the 2017 Pinot Noir Maclean's Block spent 17 months in 38% new French oak and was bottled unfined and unfiltered. Spiced cherries, mulberries, dried flowers, black tea, and some forest floor/autumn leaf notes all emerge from the glass, and it's one of the plumper, more sweetly fruited, and slightly straightforward wines in the lineup. Nevertheless, it brings the fruit and texture and is a textbook Russian River Pinot Noir.
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Wine Spectator
Notes of underbrush and forest floor accent the dried berry and cherry tart flavors. Spicy midpalate, featuring a finely textured finish that echoes with pastry details. Drink now through 2025.
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.