Winemaker Notes
This Pinot Noir offers aromas of jammy boysenberry and raspberry, black walnut, nutmeg and hints of forest floor. Moderate tannins greet you up front, followed by a juicy texture in the mid-palate. Pleasant warm and toasty oak flavors compliment flavors of sweet spice, pomegranate and cranberry that carry through to the long finish.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
A slightly bigger wine than the Sonoma Coast, the 2017 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley offers tons of rich black fruits, cola, and smoked earth characteristics in its medium to full-bodied, rounded, textured profile. Coming from a mix of sites, mostly destemmed (there are 15% whole clusters), and brought up in 17% new French oak, it’s a rocking little wine that delivers loads of pleasure.
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Wine Enthusiast
Juicy black and red fruit highlight a weighty, full-bodied and fruit-forward style of powerful flavor in this well-made appellation wine. Baking spice and cola round out the profile.
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.