Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Absolutely stunning, a testament to the vintage, the terroir and to the winemaker's impeccable hand. It's delicious beyond description, offering wave after wave of cherry pie, blackberry confit, red currant, persimmon and cola flavors, finished with exciting spices. Already throwing sediment, it's so balanced in acids and tannins that it's gorgeous now, but should develop effortlessly over the next six years at the very least.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
The Marimar wines have shown so well with age in our ongoing looks at them that this wine’s manifold charms come as no surprise. It is almost youthful in its still-lively fruit, and yet it also shows aged richness in both aroma and flavor. With excellent balance, a very supple, wonderfully velvety texture and just a bit of tannin for grip, this wine offers all that one could want in a Pinot of its age. It will continue to hold up well in the cellar for another half-decade or so. Kudos. 89 points when first reviewed.
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.