Winemaker Notes
This wine wakes up the palate with bright notes of sour cherry and cranberry. The fruit is framed with hints of toasted bread and smoke, followed by ginger and earthy notes of sage on the mid-palate. Baking spice notes draw you further into the glass to explore that darker plum character that is nicely structured with firm acidity, balance, and a lingering finish of red raspberry, flinty smoke, and toasty oak.
Our philosophy is to produce a Pinot Noir that is fruit forward and well balanced, pairing beautifully with simple rustic food. This wine is marvelous when paired dishes like grilled pork chop with apple and cherry compote, wild mushroom and leek risotto, cedar-plank roasted salmon, and sorrel salad or veal scallopini with tomato rosemary sauce.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Home to a diverse array of smaller AVAs with varied microclimates and soil types, Sonoma County has something for every wine lover. Physically twice as large as Napa Valley, the region only produces about half the amount of wine but boasts both tremendous quality and variety. With its laid-back atmosphere and down-to-earth attitude, the wineries of Sonoma are appreciated by wine tourists for their friendliness and approachability. The entire county intends to become a 100% sustainable winegrowing region by 2019.
Sonoma County wines are produced with carefully selected grape varieties to reflect the best attributes of their sites—Dry Creek Valley’s consistent sunshine is ideal for Zinfandel, while the warm Alexander Valley is responsible for rich, voluptuous red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are important throughout the county, most notably in the cooler AVAs of Russian River, Sonoma Coast and Carneros. Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Syrah have also found a firm footing here.