Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A bold, rich Pinot, showing lots of flavor, depth, structure and finesse. The tannins weigh in early and hang on amid the ripe plum, blueberry and raspberry notes. The finish tightens and grips in a pleasing way.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Pinot Noir Winemaker’s Block is another brilliant wine from the same vineyards as the Reserve, but selected from what the winemaker considered the best material. Aged ten months in one-third new French oak, the wine offers up notes of sweet black cherries, spice box, steak tartare, forest floor and underbrush. It displays good roundness, generosity, and a medium to full-bodied mouthfeel. Drink it over the next 3-4 years.
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.