Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine is opulent, with aromas of black cherry, red currant compote, cinnamon and fresh florals. Flavors on the palate are Bing cherry, black currant confiture and vanillalime cream interwoven with dried herbs, bittersweet chocolate, earth and a long, silky finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
There's a nice thread of acidity throughout an otherwise medium-bodied-to-opulently styled expression of rounded red berry, baking spice, and a hint of forest floor earthiness in the 2021 Pinot Noir Unforgettable Estate Vineyard, which finishes awash in grippy, yet refined tannins.
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.