Winemaker Notes
Perfectly clean and precise with bright red fruits. Cranberry, boysenberry, and layered baking spices complement the alluring hint of vanilla. Lifted, with a polished, expressive texture and bountiful red fruit. A pleasing tension on the palate finishes with inspiring length and integrated tannins.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley is ripe with cherry candy, sweet baking spice, and incense. The palate is fresh and fleshy, with notes of red plum and forest floor.
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James Suckling
A juicy and fruity red with strawberry and cherry aromas and flavors. Medium to full body. Deep and creamy texture. Iodine and oyster shell.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley is surprisingly bright and lifted, with scents of rhubarb, blood orange, bergamot and Angostura bitters. The light-bodied palate is delicate, soft and juicy, with a satisfying, spicy finish.
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.