Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Fresh aromas of blueberry and black cherry give this focus. While firmly tannic, everything stays in place through the long finish. Ends with crushed rock minerality.
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Wine Enthusiast
A selection of barrels from the same estate vineyard, this unctuous, brawny wine remains grippy on the palate, needing time in cellar, through 2020. Time should tame the tannins and lure in the black cherry and licorice, wrapped in luxurious swathes of blackberry and dried herb. Cellar Selection.
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Wine & Spirits
While this shows plenty of oak, the fruit is sufficiently robust to relegate those vanillin scents and granular tannins to the background, emphasizing a bold, salty red plum flavor that melds with the oak into a sweet spiciness, like star anise. It’s an opulent pinot noir to pour with a rich dish like seared duck breast in a foie gras sauce.
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.