Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Complex and unusual flavors may bring you back for a second and third taste, wondering, is that red apple? Red pear? Cumin and carrots or cranberries? Meanwhile, the velvet cushion of tannins takes over, along with a mouthwatering freshness that lifts the complexity out of sweet earthiness. An intriguing pinot from a rocky, hillside vineyard planted to highly pedigreed stock: a selection said to hail from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti as well as a Pommard selection from Rochioli’s River Block.
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.”
A unique appellation placed in between the warm, Sonoma County Alexander Valley and the cooler Mendocino County's Anderson Valley, the Yorkville Highlands’ gravel soils are ideal for Bordeaux varieties and other full-bodied reds.