Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
A beautifully complex and sophisticated wine, showing lush flavors of red cherry pie filling, cranberry tart, Dr. Pepper and cedar. Finishes rich and butterscotchy, but thoroughly dry, with a crisp tang of citrusy acidity. Now through 2012.
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Wine & Spirits
A bright pinot noir with lush cherry flavors that feel silken and plump, this has a fine glint of acidity in the end. The oak behind it becomes smokier with air, adding to the wine's soft perfume. The rich texture will match duck roasted with cherries.
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.