Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Connoisseurs' Guide
The emergence of a slightly herbal note in the aromas holds this well-made wine back just a bit, but once past that modest hiccup, this one turns out to be one of the best aging bottlings in this set of retrospectives. It is otherwise generous in aroma with ripe black cherry fruit and hints of dried flowers laying the base for a supple, firm and still moderately grippy wine across the palate. It is wholly balanced and full of life at this point, and can easily be held for another five years. 90 points when first reviewed.
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Wine Enthusiast
A delicious Talley Rincon, showing the class of this vineyard. Maybe not the best vintage, lacking some elegance, but the wine is ultrarich and full-bodied, with massive raspberry and cherry flavors.
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.”
One of the coolest growing areas in California, the Arroyo Grande Valley runs from the southwest to the northeast, just a few miles from the Pacific Ocean and is part of the Central Coast AVA. Situated so that cold Pacific Ocean air and fog is allowed to filter into the valley, Arroyo Grande also has an incredibly long growing season. Bud break occurs in February in most years with flowering in May and harvest in late September; the area is classified as cool Mediterranean.
These weather factors combined with the soil types—continental and marine rocks, greywacke, limestone, shale and volcanic—create wines with great concentration and fresh acidity. The cooler end of the valley is perfect for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and is a good producer of sparkling wines. The warmer, more inland part of the valley is home to some of California’s oldest Zinfandel vines.