Winemaker Notes
#66 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2019
The wine has a bright garnet color with an amazingly high-toned explosive nose of wild sage, blood orange peel, raspberry and shiitake mushrooms. The palate is quite bright and lively with acidity and yet warm with flavors of orange blossom, red fruits, orange peel, well integrated French oak and herbs. There is a great generous fresh forward varietal fruit to the wine making it great to drink now or over the next few years. The balance of the wine keeps it fresh and at the same time mouth filling with expansive flavors. The wine finishes with a beautiful mouth-watering savory character that brings you back for glass after glass!
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This offers creamy raspberry, currant and wild plum flavors, supported by medium-grained tannins. The spicy finish lingers with chocolate notes and hints of mint. Drink now through 2023.
RouteStock is an invitation to discover the deep roots of winemaking in Napa and Sonoma, planted firmly at each step of your journey through our vineyard sites. Every glass tells the story of Napa’s remarkable fine wine heritage, from the famous routes that wind between the vineyards, to the roots that produce its world-renowned grapes. An endeavor of enduring Napa-based importer Wilson Daniels, RouteStock is established as a product that consistently over-delivers in quality at a very attractive price point.
At the core of RouteStock is their commitment to sourcing great fruit from high-end vineyards along well-known routes in the Napa Valley. They partner with a select group of dedicated grape-growers in the best viticultural areas for each of the varietals: Napa Valley for Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc, Carneros for Chardonnay, and the Sonoma Coast for Pinot Noir. Like every aspect of RouteStock, these appellations were individually selected with care to put each varietal at the greatest advantage and make the best possible wines while also showcasing their uniqueness.
Work is done hand-in-hand with all of the growers during cultivation season. The winery practices minimal intervention in their winemaking to help the grapes show their true character, using native yeasts, natural malolactic fermentation, 100% barrel aging, and no chemical additions. The intent is to let the grapes and vintage tell us what kind of wine they should be – never try to force the wine into a specific mold, but rather serve as a guide on its journey. Winemaker, Vance Rose, an industry veteran for nearly 40 years, provides s competitive advantage in the vineyard sourcing through the strong relationships he forged during his path to RouteStock Winemaker.
The Sonoma Coast AVA is large in area but, not counting overlapping regions like Russian River Valley, only has a few thousand acres of grapevines—and it’s no wonder. Much of the region is rugged and not easily accessible. Its proximity to the Pacific Ocean’s fog and cool breezes limits the varieties that can be cultivated, but it proves to be an ideal environment for high quality Pinot Noir.
Since fog is a frequent fact of life here, as are heavy marine layers that sometimes bring rain, the best vineyards are wisely planted above the fog line, on picturesque ridges that capture enough sun to provide even ripening. That, with the overnight drop in temperature that reliably preserves acidity, results in fine expressions of Pinot Noir that often receive tremendous critic and consumer praise alike, and are often in high demand.