Winemaker Notes
Ripe summer fruits on the nose: blueberries, raspberries and cranberries. Shaved nutmeg and burnt orange peel. Intense and bold on the palate with bright acidity and a soothing mouthfeel. Focused and daring, the longer it rests on the palate, the more it intensifies.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Some dried fruit and dried flowers on the nose with hints of spices and strawberries. Full body and round, soft tannins. Yet, it shows brightness and vivid undertones, giving it vigor.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley was aged partly for 15 months in 47% new French oak, partly for ten months in 5% concrete tank. It has a pale to medium ruby color and very inviting nose: pomegranate, cranberry jelly, violet, orange peel and red cherry candy are accented with nuances of dried leaves and a light framing of spices. It's medium-bodied, silky and offers great restraint—very intense but not over the top—with a soft, grainy frame and juicy acidity to lift the long, red berry finish. This isn't the most complex wine in the world, but it's exactly as it should be for an appellation-wide Pinot Noir—simply delicious!
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Wine Spectator
The mix of red berry, wild berry, licorice and gravelly earth flavors offers lots of substance, maintaining a tight focus and ending with a long, persistent finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The largest production cuvée is the 2016 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley, which sees close to 50% new barrels. This juicy, fruit forward, medium-bodied effort offers classic notes of mulberries, raspberries, and hints of orange blossom. It’s another seamless, balanced 2016 that has the remarkable purity and elegance that’s the hallmark of the 2016 vintage.
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.