Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Packed with more tension, the 2023 Pinot Noir Westside Road Neighbors offers more red fruit, with crunchy red cherries, dusty earth, red roses, and lifted spice. The palate is medium-bodied and has a more sporty feel, with bright, salty freshness of acidity, notes of bergamot and floral spice, and a more mineral texture that lasts long on the finish. Give it another year and drink over the following 15-20 years.
Rating: 96+ -
James Suckling
An exotic and pleasurable wine with crushed raspberries, guavas, tangerines and sweet undertones of warm baking spices and woodsy pine duff. It’s juicy, fresh, drinkable and finely balanced.
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Wine Spectator
This is inviting, with singed wood spice, black tea and apple wood aromatics giving way to a core of brambly black cherry and blackberry compote notes. The juicy, fresh, energetic finish is absolutely delicious. Best from 2026 through 2036.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Pinot Noir Westside Road Neighbors is blended from several vineyards, including Bacigalupi, Rochioli Riverblock and the Williams Selyem Estate Vineyard. Matured for 15 months in 60% new French oak, the nose features scents of briar fruit, Earl Grey tea, forest floor, woodsmoke and dark spice. The full-bodied palate is bursting with concentrated, floral flavors. It’s framed by lacy tannins and vibrant acidity and has a long, spicy finish.
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.