Winemaker Notes
#54 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2024
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
With power and grace in equal measure, this boasts dark cherries, tobacco leaf and cacao nibs, given savoriness from leather and lift from lavender and Earl Grey tea before a harmonious, mineral finish.
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Vinous
The 2021 Pinot Noir Silver Belt Vineyard Cuvée Natalie is stellar. Rich and explosive, the 2021 is bursting with inky red/purplish fruit, rose petal, lavender, game, tobacco and incense. The purity of the flavors is just remarkable. There's so much textural depth and textural richness here. My impression is that the best is yet to come.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The deep ruby 2021 Pinot Noir Cuvee Natalie Silver Belt Vineyard is ripe and inviting, with a potpourri of spice, red cherry, wild herbs, tea leaf, and a hint of incense. Medium to full-bodied, it has good structure, with ripe tannins, good acidity, and a lot of stemmy spices as well as turned earth and beetroot. Drink 2025-2035.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Pinot Noir Cuvée Natalie Silver Belt Vineyard has fragrant scents of red cherries, pomegranate and raspberries with nuances of forest floor, woodsmoke and charcuterie. The medium-bodied palate features alluringly crunchy, earth-laced fruit supported by velvety tannins, vibrant acidity to balance its density of fruit and a long, layered, spicy finish. This irresistible Pinot Noir will certainly age, but there's no reason to wait!
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Decanter
Medium- to full-bodied with bright red fruit and acid to burn. Rose petals and violets don't stop blooming here. The wine continues to evolve in the glass and will continue to develop favourably over the next eight or so years.
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.