Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
The Sequana Winery has had enormous success with this vineyard over the years, and now MacPhail dips into it, with impressive results. The first impression is of acidity, mouthwatering and tangy. Then the flavors explode into a rainbow of red cherries, pomegranates, persimmons and exotic spices.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Another Green Valley offering is the powerful 2011 Pinot Noir Sundawg Ridge Vineyard, which is made from an interesting clonal composition consisting of Dijon clone 115, and the Calera and Pommard clones from California. Aromas of forest floor, earth and red fruits jump from the glass of this dark ruby-colored wine. A strikingly good Pinot Noir in a tough vintage, it possesses lots of texture and complexity.
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Tasting Panel
Deep ruby color; fleshy and ripe with black cherry, spice, meat and concentration; balanced and mellow, long and dense.
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.”
Situated on the foggier and colder western edge of the Russian River Valley, almost abutting the Sonoma Coast appellation, Green Valley is one of California’s most reputable Chardonnay and Pinot noir producing regions. It is also a wonderful source of sparkling wines made from these varieties.
Goldridge soils abound throughout the Green Valley appellation. This fine, dark, sandy loam and fractured sandstone is derived from the remains of ancient inland seabeds dating back three to five million years. It is valuable for high quality grape growing because of its excellent drainage and low fertility.