Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Tight-grained tannin wraps around dark, brooding swathes of black cherry, blackberry and cinnamon; dustings of dark chocolate and graham cracker weaving their way underneath. Strong herbal components balance the fruit and complexity, brightened by dashes of fresh citrus and herb.
-
Wine & Spirits
This vintage of Eastside Road comes from four vineyards in the heart of the Russian River Valley. It offers bold black cherry flavor and anise spice in a structure that’s shapely and firm—full of hearty Russian River fruit and delicious now, yet serious enough to gain from time in the cellar.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The generic cuvées from Eastside and Westside Roads are always the best buys in this portfolio. The 2013 Pinot Noir Eastside Road Neighbors has a similar dark ruby/plum color as well as loads of fruit, slightly more minerality, and more bulk to it, but is still similar in its suppleness and seductive lushness. Drink it over the next 7-8 years.
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.