Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Pinot Noir
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley is spicy and lifted on the nose with notes of fresh red cherries, steamy spices, forest herbs, and dried earth. Medium-bodied, with an approachable feel, fine tannins, and a soft, stony texture, it’s long on the palate and is going to have a wide drinking window over the next 8-10 years. Beginning with the 2022 vintage, this wine will come entirely from the Ramey estate.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley has pure aromas of cranberry sauce and cherry pie, woodsmoke and bitters. The light-bodied palate is silky and bright with generous fruit, Goldilocks ripeness and a long, spicy finish.
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James Suckling
Soothing, charming and medium-bodied, this wine is delicious and accessible. A light garnet color leads to pretty raspberry and red cherry aromas, then lightly tangy cherries, cranberries and cinnamon notes are shaped by light tannins.
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Wine Spectator
A stylish red, showing blood orange coulis and gently mulled raspberry and strawberry fruit notes. This offers an elegant, slightly high-pitched profile, with subtle savory and mineral threads helping to carry the finish.
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.