Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Complex and deeply flavored, with loamy notes to the dark cherry, plum tart and wild berry flavors, which are broad-textured and robustly spiced. The dense, powerfully structured finish lingers, revealings smoky touches and sanguine richness. Drink now through 2025.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium ruby, the 2017 Pinot Noir Unforgettable, aged in 43% new French oak, opens to aromas of old leather, roasted cranberries, toasted coconut, rhubarb and pomegranate with notes of black cherries, saddle leather and roasted blackberries—this has discernible Brettanomyces character. It's medium-bodied and silky with earthy red and black fruits, juicy freshness and a firm, grainy frame, finishing long. Fans of a more rustic style will enjoy this.
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 unique appellation placed in between the warm, Sonoma County Alexander Valley and the cooler Mendocino County's Anderson Valley, the Yorkville Highlands’ gravel soils are ideal for Bordeaux varieties and other full-bodied reds.