Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This is really a fabulous Pinot Noir that is absolutely Grand Cru. It's balanced, but what's hard to describe is how the wine can be silky and airy, yet dense and complex. The fruit is amazingly ripe, a detonation of cherries, cola, raspberries, pomegranates and coffee, with new oaky layers of caramel, toast and vanilla, but it all comes together in a seamless, elegant, complex experience that's a joy to savor.
Editors' Choice -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2004 Pinot Noir Flax Vineyard shows riper raspberries, more depth than some of the other cuvees, and an enticing nose of dried herbs, sweet fruit, and flowers. This pretty wine is medium-bodied but beautifully rendered and elegant. This one should age nicely.
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Wine Spectator
Well-focused, tight and compact, with a rich mix of earthy currant, black cherry and wild berry fruit that's clean and refreshing, with a long, lingering aftertaste. Drink now through 2011.
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.