Winemaker Notes
The EQ Pinot Noir has an intense red color with glints of ruby. The nose is rather austere and mineral, followed by elegant floral and ripe citrus notes. The palate is powerful and unctuous with high acidity. The wine is elegant and structured with a lingering finish.
This wine pairs well with pasta and risotto dishes with mushroom or truffle sauces. Also complements soft aged cheeses, fresh salads and spicy food.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A flavorful, savory pinot with ripe dark cherries and raspberries, roasted licorice, coca cola, wet earth and dried roses. A very smooth pinot with fresh but naturally rendered acidity that gives it a supple and composed feel. Long, with lots of roses and forest-berries in the finish. From organically grown grapes with Ecocert certification.
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.”
Its rolling, coastal hills encouraged great investment in the 1990s from those in search of a cooler grape growing environment compared to those found in Chile’s Central Valley. All of the vineyards of the San Antonio Valley, which runs north to south and parallel to the coast, experience the cooling effect of the ocean and are made of vine-loving clay and granitic soils. While Sauvignon Blanc put this valley on the Chilean wine map, high quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are emerging and some producers are starting to experiment with sparkling wine.