Winemaker Notes
Complex bouquet of blackberries, strawberries, Morello cherries and chocolate aromas with a hint of licorice. Complex, substantial, long finish with fine, harmoniously integrated tannins.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
From a cold vintage, but the south-facing Sonnenberg (‘sunny hill’) summoned enough heat for a gorgeous Grosses Gewächs. A pronounced bouquet of smokiness, sour cherry, wild strawberry, dried herbs and bacon. A powerful palate with generous red and blue berries, backed by mineral, saline freshness, with endless fruit on the finish.
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James Suckling
The ripe red berry aromas, sweet oak and gentle tannins all make this a really attractive and supple pinot noir with restrained fleshiness and nice freshness on the medium-bodied palate. Drink or hold.
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.”
