Romililly Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2015
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2014-
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Wilfred
Wong
In 2006, we had an opportunity to purchase several tons of Pinot Noir, our favorite varietal. It cost us our life savings, but the opportunity was too good to refuse. Using the facilities at August Briggs Winery, we produced a wine that was all our own—the first vintage of Romililly Pinot Noir. We made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot of things we probably should have known already[e1] [BH2] , but somehow we pulled through. Our little 200-case vintage got a lot of attention, earning a 93 rating from the Pinot Report. For the next five years, we kept at it, slowly increasing our production, but never making quite enough to satisfy demand.
Uncle Joe sold August Briggs Winery in 2010, and Romililly had to find a new home. Fortunately, we found Talisman Winery in Sonoma, a winery designed to produce high-end, small-lot Pinot Noirs run by some of the best people in the industry. Our first year on our own brought a lot of new challenges, but we became better winemakers for it. Now, we’re producing new wines in addition to our signature Pinot Noir, and we’ve partnered with several amazing vineyards to create our best vintages yet.
Romililly is all about family, learning by doing, taking on more than we can probably handle, and including wine in every part of our lives. Like Uncle Joe, we’re upstarts in the winemaking industry, not winemaking royalty, and our renegade approach influences the wine we make and keeps us hungry for success. Running our small, family winery is always an adventure—and we hope that you’ll make our wine a part of your own adventures.
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.