Paul Matthew 2014 Syrah Russian River Valley Reviews
This is not a story well-nigh new appellations. Nor is it a story nigh hard and fast lines on a map. It's nearly clarifying a set up of historically understood subregions inside the Russian River Valley. It'south nigh helping those who love the region's Pinot Noir to dive deeper into its nuances and sensory points of delineation.
Chosen the Neighborhoods Initiative, it'southward an attempt to estimate whether certain characteristics (aroma and texture, amid others) tin be attributed to specific areas of the region. While the focus is on Pinot Noir, it could extend to other varieties essential to the appellation, including Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah.
With approximately 16,000 acres of grapes, the Russian River Valley is comprised of many small vineyards. It's been an American Viticultural Area (AVA) since 1983, with expansions in 2005 and 2011.
Are the nuances imparted by the various subregions recognizable? Most of the local winemakers think then.
"At the most basic level, we all know winemakers and people who honey Russian River Valley who think they recognize differences in wines from more coastal sites than those from the Eye Accomplish," says Clay Gantz, who farms just under 5 acres of Pinot Noir in the heart of the appellation, in an area known every bit Laguna Ridge.
Gantz is VP of the Russian River Valley Winegrowers, chairperson of the Neighborhoods Commission and a member of the RRVW Neighborhoods Tasting Console, which has begun to seek answers via blind tastings among members that include Rod Berglund of Joseph Swan Vineyards and Merry Edwards.
Using samples of 2014 Pinot Noir, they're trying to ascertain if "specific, consistently identifiable sensory characteristics derive from grapes grown in those neighborhoods."
"Nosotros don't know what the results will tell united states, we simply call up information technology's a worthy endeavour," says Gantz. "We're a very successful AVA, and people don't want to mess with that."
"I'chiliad all about Russian River and about understanding the dissimilar regions," says Merry Edwards. "What we're looking for is the common theme that tells united states of america there'south something unique nigh this area."
Though experience has taught her which clones practise all-time in specific areas, Edwards doesn't want to be the one to draw the lines. To her, the map should be "existent foggy" and take no precisely drawn borders.
"My problem is if y'all kickoff something, you better know where you're going with it."
Unlike many vintners, Edwards has Pinot Noir vineyards in each neighborhood, capitalizing on their differing characteristics.
"Our whole premise is wine's from a identify and has a personality, and you tin foster that personality past planting the right rootstock and clone there, and if information technology'southward an enduring profile, that's something to capture and bring up every twelvemonth," she says. "I wanted to accept a number of dissimilar Pinots from Russian River. I wanted them to exist dissimilar. And part of that is beingness in unlike areas."
Middle Reach
The northernmost neighborhood, closest to Healdsburg and Dry Creek Valley, the Heart Achieve is anchored past the wineries and vineyards along Westside Road. Among these are J. Rochioli Vineyard and Winery, Bacigalupi Vineyards, Flax Vineyard (of Merry Edwards Winery), Bucher Vineyard, Allen Vineyard and Williams Selyem Manor Vineyards.
Information technology'southward likewise home to many of the appellation'due south oldest plantings.
The aromatics are less defined. Instead, the wines are most texture and length, and they tend to be wide and expansive on the palate. Acidity is non the defining feature.
Fog brought in by the Russian River, which snakes through the heart of the neighborhood, keeps temperatures absurd plenty to grow Pinot Noir.
The warmth here tends to develop Pinots that are dark, meaty and built to concluding. They display firm tannic structure, but also a lushness that keeps them soft. These wines tend to be ripe and full bodied.
Edwards says that of all her Pinots, information technology'due south the ones from Westside Road, specially Flax, that take the longest to come around.
"Our proximity to the physical river is fundamental," says John Bucher, of Bucher Vineyard. "It's a different water influence than the Laguna de Santa Rosa."
The fog is densest in summer, allowing his grapes to retain acidity at ripening.
"Information technology's non uncommonly hot, the sugars don't go up besides much, only flavors have time to develop," says Bucher. "We become cola spice, dark fruit, earthier, darker and richer, lusher notes on the palate, with an acid backbone. The wines are non vegetative, there'south more than ripening in the seeds."
Recommended Wines
Bucher 2012 3 Sixty Pinot Noir; $50, 93 points. The vineyard is located in the heart of the valley's Middle Reach. With this bottling, the Bucher family has produced an ageworthy vino that handsomely displays the vineyard's terroir. The raspberry and cherry fruits are wrapped into firm tannins, with new French oak bringing sweeter notes of toast and caramel. Drink 2018 through at least 2024. Cellar Selection.
Rochioli 2012 Manor Grown Pinot Noir; $65, 91 points. Savory and structured, it has a supple layering of allspice dancing on the palate, with floral, violet-like overtones. Blackness ruby-red and earth make up the soul of this vino; it's both classy and hearty.
Laguna Ridge
Due south of the Centre Attain virtually Forestville, a narrow strip blest by deep, well-draining sandy Goldridge and Altamont soils, with some Franciscan at its northern cease, is the Laguna Ridge, sometimes called the Gold Triangle. Information technology overlooks the Laguna de Santa Rosa, where water pools during wintertime rains.
In addition to Merry Edwards, Dehlinger Winery, Lynmar Estate and Joseph Swan Vineyards are among wineries located here. Swan was the starting time to plant Pinot Noir in the Laguna Ridge afterward Prohibition on the advice of Andre Tchelistcheff, who referred to it every bit "centre-cool."
"The Pinot Noirs have a wonderful mouthfeel and moderate acidity, going from ruby to dark fruit, strawberry, mixed berry, pit-like fruit similar plum and nectarine, with a brambly, exotic spice character," says Berglund.
Not every bit rich as Middle Achieve wines on the palate, withal non as linear as those from the cooler Light-green Valley or Sebastopol Hills, these wines offer plenty of lushness. N–south running hills separate Laguna Ridge from the Santa Rosa Plain.
The Klopp Ranch and Coopersmith Vineyard of Merry Edwards Winery are on the Laguna Ridge.
"The Pinots are characterized by their bully mouthfeel," says Edwards. "They have a lot of rich, high-quality tannin, and in that location's a lot of cocoa in Coopersmith. They're blackberry-focused, like walking through a field of blackberries, with a leafy smell."
Recommended Wines
Ramey 2012 Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay; $65, 97 points. This wine is deliciously elegant and yet decadently rich in all the correct ways, from a prime number longtime vineyard source planted to vines over 40 years old. Honeyed apple comes to the fore amid lush, formidable layers of complication and loftier-minded pursuit, never getting bogged down, the minerality perfectly pitched and the oak fully integrated. Editors' Choice.
Paul Hobbs 2012 Pinot Noir; $55, 94 points. Sourced in function from the Katherine Lindsay Manor Vineyard in the centre of Laguna Ridge, this wine is powerful and lush. It's a velvety, classically styled Russian River Valley Pinot, weighty and lip-smacking in black cherry and earth, buoyed by finely hued acidity. Perfectly enjoyable at present, information technology'll also age well, the spicy undertones coaxed to middle stage. Cellar Selection.
Merry Edwards 2012 Klopp Ranch Pinot Noir; $threescore, 93 points. Klopp is a mix of California and Burgundy clones, one of the producer's finest offerings every year, made in an opulent, balanced style. Lush layers of strawberry and blood-red are surrounded by truffle-like clay, the wine concentrated in tannin and subtle oak, while anise marks the measured cease. The wine will benefit from time in the cellar, through 2020. Cellar Choice.
Santa Rosa Plain
A large stretch of flatlands closer to the town of Santa Rosa on the east side of the Laguna de Santa Rosa, this neighborhood encompasses Olivet Route, and the larger Piner-Olivet surface area. It boasts a deep concentration of vineyards and wineries, including Pellegrini Vino Company, DeLoach Vineyards and Inman Family Wines.
It's also where many of the Valley'due south old plantings of Zinfandel—really mixed black varieties—notwithstanding remain. Well-known properties in the neighborhood include Barbieri Ranch, Carlisle Vineyard (formerly Pelletti), Fanucchi Vineyards, Montafi Ranch (formerly Tom Feeney), Papera Ranch, Parsons' Vineyard and Saitone Ranch.
"Zinfandels from this area are marked by healthy acidities," says Mike Officeholder, winemaker at Carlisle Winery & Vineyards.
"Another defining feature is the fruit profile," he says. "In Dry Creek, Zinfandel seems to be all about cherry. In Sonoma Valley, [it'southward] generally about blackberry. Only in Zin from the Santa Rosa Plains, information technology'south more about raspberry, boysenberry and even mulberry. At that place also tends to be more spice."
He says the fruit profile for Zinfandel changes moving northward. Carlisle Zinfandels from Limerick Lane Cellars most Healdsburg tend to combine ruby-red and raspberry.
There, they meet Pinots exhibiting more cherry fruit than at Zio Tony Ranch in the Laguna Ridge, where black cherry and cola boss.
"Moonshine'southward a big juicy bomb with an acid backbone," says Bryan Kvamme, Martinelli's winemaker. "Information technology's accessible."
The Olivet Lane Vineyard, from which Edwards (among others) sources Pinot Noir, has clay-rich soils and deep-rooted vines. A lot of the sites are planted with Martini clone, one of the oldest clones in the appellation, with large berries.
Recommended Wines
Carlisle 2012 Saitone Vineyard Zinfandel; $46, 94 points. Interplanted with Carignan, Alicante Bouschet and Grand Noir, this Zin vineyard dates back to 1895. It's velvety in blueberry and boysenberry fruit, with well-honed tannins and a full trunk. On the stop is a satisfying streak of black licorice and pepper. Cellar through 2022. Cellar Selection.
Donum 2012 Estate Grown Reserve Pinot Noir; $ninety, 94 points. A wine that begs for time in the bottle, information technology stubbornly reveals bold, lusty and rich notes of black ruddy, coffee and blackness pepper, girded by a strong presence of night chocolate. Amid the blackness scarlet are accompanying flavors of brambly blackberry and a suggestion of savory cranberry, all integrating with the tannins. Cellar through 2022. Cellar Selection.
Davis Bynum 2012 Jane'south Vineyard Clone 667 Pinot Noir; $55, 92 points. This is a robust, brawny wine, exuberant in wild strawberry, earthy black pepper and blackness tea. Leathery layers of mushroom and toasted oak combine for a full-bodied experience that speaks well of the appellation. It's a concentrated version of one clone of the grape from a single vineyard in a stellar vintage.
Dark-green Valley
The only Russian River Valley neighborhood recognized every bit an AVA, Light-green Valley centers around the towns of Graton and Occidental, south of Forestville and northward of Sebastopol. Information technology's populated with redwood and fir trees and underlain by Goldridge soils, with a generally higher elevation than surrounding areas. The heavily forested region is subject to consistent cooling winds from the Pacific Bounding main.
In the 1970s, the Dutton family was amongst the first to establish grapes widely here, followed soon after by Iron Horse Vineyards, which focused on sparkling. The region became an AVA in 1983. A slight tweak was made to its proper name in 2008, officially known now as Green Valley of Russian River Valley.
The northern part of Green Valley is warmer than the southward, which runs forth the Bodega Highway. Many of the sites are sheltered by hills, with a balance between warmth and coolness. Sites at higher elevations are more affected by wind.
Michael Browne of Kosta Browne Winery, who sources from Dark-green Valley's Keefer Ranch, describes the Pinots equally tasting of "cherry-red fruits," like rhubarb, cranberry, pomegranate and tart cherry.
"They're well-baked in aromatics, with a luxurious mouthfeel, precise and make clean, beautifully textured," he says.
In that location's a firmness and tension to the wines, which ofttimes showroom a tinge of anise. Well-structured, they retain ample richness in the mouth and are beautifully textured.
"Cooler doesn't always hateful lighter," says Elizabeth Grant-Douglas, director of winemaking for La Crema, which is introducing a Dark-green Valley-sourced Pinot Noir with the 2013 vintage.
"In Green Valley, you lot get perfectly ripe tannins but the acids are super high," Grant-Douglas says. "There'due south intensity and density with acerbity."
Recommended Wines
Dutton-Goldfield 2013 Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir; $xl, 94 points. Minty fresh and significantly herbal, this is a lighter-styled, stemmy and earthy wine from a longstanding vineyard source that shines from start to end. Pomegranate, black cherry and tea combine to delicious effect, giving the vino enough body and soul to remain memorable through the long, tea-stained finish. Editors' Choice.
Gary Farrell 2012 Hallberg Vineyard Clone 777 Oak Tank Fermented 17% Whole Cluster Pinot Noir; $65, 94 points. This wine delivers in flavor and scent, a refined layering of scarlet and strawberry that celebrates what this effluvious clone tin practice. Orange peel and tart, tight acerbity combine around a silky texture, with a ginger-spice finish and lingering hint of rose petal. Editors' Pick.
Cellars 33 2013 Keefer Ranch Pinot Noir; $52, 93 points. This is a terrific representation of all that is spectacularly specific almost Keefer Ranch, a relatively cool site in Dark-green Valley. Bawdy and spicy in clove and nutmeg, the wine is lightly layered in cranberry and crisp cherry. It'due south supple and silky on the palate, with an bawdy oomph to the finish. Editors' Choice.
Sebastopol Hills
This neighborhood is roughly divers equally the stretch of land running east to westward around the town of Sebastopol, overlapping into Dark-green Valley, in a larger region that some accept begun to telephone call the W Sonoma Declension. This is about equally cool as it gets within the Russian River Valley's official boundaries.
Ted Lemon'south Littorai Wines is here, as well as the Balletto family unit, which farms Burnside Road Vineyard.
Producers from throughout the Russian River Valley and beyond are increasingly seeking out the expanse's cooler-climate fruit, likely to include some of the well-baked red-fruit characteristics for which Green Valley is known, along with savory elements of dried herbs and black tea.
Bleeding into Freestone, where the Pacific Ocean winds its style up the Bodega Highway, are the Sebastopol Hills. Beautiful apple state with classic Goldridge soils, it'south dwelling house to Meredith Manor Vineyard, which Edwards purchased in 1996.
"People said it was besides cold there to institute, what used to exist on the edge," Edwards says. "The grapes definitely accept a cool-area character, with a lot of bluish fruit, blue flowers, withal very elegant and a loftier pH and high acidity at the same time, which is a strange combination—they're usually in opposition to one another. Equally it's matured, I become more trunk in the wines than I thought [was possible]."
Recommended Wines
Lynmar 2012 Freestone Pinot Noir; $60, 96 points. This Pinot is caressed in floral aromas and juicy blood-red ruby. The vino is fresh and alive, a dorsum layer of blackness tea, savory herb and exotic spice meshing in magical ways. The majority of the grapes came from the Sexton Vineyard, with the rest from Umino and Jenkins. Editors' Choice.
Patz & Hall 2012 Burnside Vineyard Pinot Noir; $75, 94 points. This wine is no shrinking violet on the olfactory organ, resplendent in fresh roses and strawberry-raspberry. It confounds in its ability to provide such huge season and personality while retaining a freshness and high level of acidity on the palate. A leathery, savory component speaks quietly amongst the suggestions of cinnamon and cigar. Editors' Choice.
Chasseur 2012 Syrah; $40, 93 points. Tannic on entry, this wine evolves softly into balanced overtones of leather and cherry. It represents the more restrained and elegant side of Syrah that's possible in cooler pockets of the Russian River Valley when the grapes are in good hands. A peppery bite closes the stop. Editors' Choice.
J Vineyards & Winery 2012 Freestone Hill Vineyard Estate Grown Pinot Noir; $75, 93 points. Tight at first, this elegant Pinot from libation climes is velvety on the palate, with a back note of juicy blueberry fruit that maintains an edge of acidity and tension. Earthy black tea wraps the fruit in a savory core of intrigue and desire.
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Source: https://www.winemag.com/2015/06/04/making-sense-of-the-russian-river-valley/
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