Winemaker Notes
No question about it, 2023 is a vintage for the decade. Cooler spring temperatures delayed bud break with verasion arriving as late as August in some vineyard sites. This shifted harvest later into the fall, requiring even more meticulous farming practices. While this made for a more challenging year, the prolonged growing season allowed for deep and complex flavors to develop. We can’t believe we’re saying this…2023 may best the incredible vintages of 2021 and 2022.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This broad and opulent Pinot delivers classic flavors of baked cherry, raspberry, cedar and cola spice on the nose, while the palate gives rich tannin, spicy berry fruit and loads of black tea and cinnamon, with a long and nervy finish that displays dynamic tension between tannic grip and orange peel acidity.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A bright medium red color, the 2023 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley comes from Green Valley and is fresh with notes of red cherries, pine spice, sweet herbs, and fresh roses. The palate has a juicy, classic Russian River Valley feel, with a stemmy texture, spice notes on the finish, and loads of fruity charm. Drink 2025-2032.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley has soft, earthy scents of fallen leaves, forest floor, black tea and mushrooms over a core of brambly fruit. The medium-bodied palate offers concentrated flavors that balance wild fruit and earth character. It’s structured by silky tannins and vibrant acidity and has a long, understated finish.
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Wine Spectator
A perfumy, light-bodied style, offering gently mulled raspberry and strawberry fruit laced with sandalwood and savory. A zip of blood orange pith on the finish lends cut and energy.
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.