While grown primarily in the sandy Goldridge soil, which tends to produce Pinot Noir with flavors of red fruits and orange peel, this wine also illustrates some of the deep, brooding black cherry character generally found in the region’s clay soils. It was bottled without fining or filtration, and should age gracefully for a handful of years.

This is truly a fine vintage and represents what I think is the perfect expression of the Green Valley neighborhood: red (cranberry and red plums) and some black (black cherry and a hint of boysenberry) fruits, slightly herbal back note with a tiny earthy side note. All these voices are singing at the appropriate volume and are right in tune. The finish is very long and echoes the entry flavors nicely.

It has perfect acidity to pair nicely with grilled salmon yet enough of the dark side to work fantastic with lightly smoked pork sausage and herbs (as I tried recently in my ongoing dinner time research on such important matters). As with our rosés, I think the acidity is a great counterpoint to saltiness (both in the sausage as well as what the salmon often is touched with) and a light touch with oak still allows perfect harmony with lightly smoked foods. Interestingly, with salmon, the dark fruits show more prominently while with the pork sausage the red fruits in the form of red plums are on top. As you may have noticed, I am enjoying this important line of research and look forward to furthering that project in the near future.