Winemaker Notes
The palate is tannic and gravelly; it also leans in a “pine-needle” direction and yields to a smoky, stony detailed finish. The site is limestone layered with alluvial stones from the old Rhine, and this is the first wine to see any new wood.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This shows woodsy notes that add bitterness to the ripe flavors of red currant, hibiscus tea and rose petal. Youthful and tightly wound, with high acidity and grippy tannins, but the fruity core should prevail in several years.
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.”
