Winemaker Notes
A luscious wine showing notes of red and black fruits and flowers
Vegan
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
From a site on the edges of Santa Rosa, this vineyard-designate shows a wealth of baked strawberry and is noteworthy for its vibrantly fruity aromatics. Ripe, velvety and lush on the palate, it delivers sensually and deliciously, with a lasting imprint of cola spice on the finish.
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Wine Spectator
Tastes sweet beyond ripeness, with a rich, juicy core of cherry pie that fans out to blueberry and wild berry flavors, gaining depth and structure. Reveals a gravelly earth edge that offsets the ripeness.
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.