Winemaker Notes
The wine has a light, pale ruby color and an intricate, delicate nose. Notes of pomegranate, wild green strawberry and cola nut dominate both aroma and taste. Secondary flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and green tea leaf add to this extremely complex wine. Amazingly nuanced for such a light bodied pinot and reminiscent more of southern burgundy than Russian River Valley.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Youthful red in color, the 2021 Pinot Noir Heintz Vineyard boasts a more floral and concentrated profile on the nose, with notes of candied cherries, roses, dried herbs, and iron-rich earth. There’s mouthwatering freshness upfront on the palate of this elegant and mid-weight Pinot Noir, and it has a weightless feel, hovering on the palate with fine tannins and a graceful finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
This Pinot is redolent of black cherry, sweet cinnamon and tea on the nose. On the powerful palate, flavors of black plum, dark cherry liqueur, licorice and cola spice are buoyed by a lively streak of acid that finds its level with the rich and grippy tannin.
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.