Winemaker Notes
Fragrant notes of dark raspberry, blackberry and subtle spices. Beautifully textured, featuring powerful notes of ripe blackberry and raspberry cream pie.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Pinot Noir Giusti Ranch aged 22 months in 37% new French and 6% new Austrian oak. Medium ruby, it opens with cinnamon toast, gunflint, pipe tobacco, pure red cherries and lilac with warm red berries at the core and notes of eucalyptus and charcuterie. Medium to full-bodied and über silky, it offers intense flavor layers with a sturdy, grainy frame and well-woven freshness, finishing long and nuanced. This is a beauty. 825 cases produced.
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Wine Enthusiast
From a longtime vineyard source, this vintage shines in lean, rustic and earthy tones of rhubarb, tangerine and black tea, the texture grainy and full of grip. Round and relatively rich, it has aspects of earthy forest and baking spice within its core, finishing soft and smooth.
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Wine Spectator
Rich and ripe, with notes of licorice to the mocha-infused dark fruit and Asian spice flavors. Creamy hints show midpalate, with a long, rich finish loaded with dark chocolate and mincemeat accents. Drink now through 2024.
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.