Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
There’s a floral, rose-like layer to the nose here with a wealth of spicy, earthy nuances. The palate has a powerful core, darker cherries and assertive tannins. This is muscular and needs time. Try around 2022.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Pinot Noir Roman Vineyard sports a singular style in its dried earth and red fruits, and is medium-bodied, rounded and supple on the palate. It has classic Anderson Valley savory minerality, building tannin, and a great finish. Give it a year and drink bottles over the following decade.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
A large and diverse appellation within California’s North Coast AVA, Mendocino is home to several smaller sub-regions—most notably the Anderson Valley. This scenic region, with rolling hills covered in redwood forests as well as vineyards, is one of the world’s top producers of certified organically-grown grapes. Due to wide geographical and climatic variation, a vast array of wine styles can be found here.