Winemaker Notes
Enjoy this wine with richer preparations, such as dry-aged filet or lamb shoulder.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Silky, with pronounced tannins that should mellow in time, this is an earthy, stemmy and perfumed wine. Succulent and balanced, it’s brightly exuberant in black cherry yet brooding and complex throughout, changing slightly from savory to floral and back again. It’s an incredible wine out of the gate; cellar with confidence, through 2021.
-
Wine & Spirits
Third-generation farmer Robert Pellegrini grows pinot noir at Olivet Lane Vineyard in the center of the Russian River Valley, the vines now over 40 years old. Williams Selyem winemaker Jeff Mangahas channeled the old-vine fruit into a heady 2013, its potent, sappy red cherry tone layered with nuanced aromas of dried herbs, violets and wood smoke. It’s ripe and warming, ready to decant for wild duck.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Pinot Noir Olivet Lane Vineyard has a dark ruby color and plenty of pomegranate, black cherry and mineral. It is floral, medium to full-bodied, and again shows ripe, pure fruit, good acidity, and at least 10 years of aging potential.
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.