Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Very fine and complex. This deeply flavored Pinot Noir is powerful, but it’s also elegantly silky, which is the magic combination. Shows perfectly ripe cherry and raspberry fruit, with gorgeous overtones of oak and spices. Beautiful now, and will age well through 2014 or so.
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Wine Spectator
Wonderfully supple and very elegant and harmonious, delivering ripe wild strawberry, raspberry and cherry flavors that are fresh and bright, with details of smoke, licorice, fresh herb and brewed tea. Drink now through 2016. 1,100 cases made.
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.