Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 Maritana La Russe Pinot Noir is as authentic as a wine can be. TASTING NOTES: This excellent wine is bursting with Old World savory spices and wild red berries. Pair it with rosemary, garlic-infused roast leg of lamb and enjoy. (Tasted: May 16, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
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James Suckling
Lots of ripe-strawberry character with lemon rind and berries. Full-bodied, dense and layered with a beautiful finish. Fruit-forward and serious. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
Vintner Donald Patz crafts this blend from several vineyard sites across the appellation. It captures the perfume of baked strawberry, cola, nutmeg and cardamom, followed by a lush,plush and velvety midpalate that boasts a toasted oak tone.
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Wine Spectator
Elegant, with vibrant red fruit and spice flavors that are backed by fresh acidity. The minerally finish is long and puretasting, with some savory accents. Drink now through 2023
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.