theCompass mobile application is a winery, brewery, and distillery locator for North America.

Six Dijon-clone Pinot Noir grape varieties grow on the Van Duzer estate. As a rule, the Dijon clones, being early to ripen, are likely to grow to full flavor development. With their individual flavor characters, a blend of Dijon clones offers a rich medley of sweet fruit flavors of blackberry, cherry, and cassis notes layered with hints of chocolate, exotic spices, and smoke.

Initial impressions of pineapple, peach, apricot and star fruit strengthen with a taste. Underneath a minerality asserts itself, then tapers off to a finish of yellow grapefruit and apricot. Dry, clean and crisp.

The 2005 Estate Pinot Noir evokes a finesse and complexity that reminds one of the highly rated 2002 and 2003 bottlings. The smoothed tannic structure seems perfectly proportioned to the subtle play of floral notes, red and blue fruits and spices that slowly reveal themselves to the senses.

The Wadenswil vines on the small parcel (just 1/3 acre) just below the flagpole which greets visitors to the Van Duzer Vineyards produce wines of great nuance that only gets more compelling with time. Planted in 1982, the Flagpole Block was the source of Van Duzer's first vineyard-designate Pinot Noir. The wine is distinguished by exceptionally intense mulberry and blackberry character. Moments later in the tasting, tobacco leaf and chocolate flavors emerge, carried forward on a balanced structure of velvety tannins and bright fruit.

For several years, we’ve been beguiled by the powerful fruit coming off this small vineyard which, as its name suggests, was the site of the homestead on the property. The plot was planted in 1982 to vines of the Burgundian Pommard clone which have responded to conditions on the south-facing elevated benchland site with remarkably concentrated flavors of dark cherry. First bottled under its own name in 2000, Homestead Block is distinguished for its depth and purity of fruit character. Concentrated dark cherry and raspberry flavors make a strong impression followed by layers of chocolate and vanilla. On the palate, the wine is concentrated without being weighty.

Dijon clones assert themselves in this Pinot Noir-based Rosé, adding aromatic depth and rich body to our perennially clean-finished Rosé. A full basket of guava, strawberry, cherry and raspberry flavors touched with hints of spice.

Aromatic, with dark plum and gentle spice notes that hint at the diverse medley of Pinot Noir clones in the estate blend. Broad in texture and generous with its pure blackberry and current flavors that persist enticingly on the fine-grained finish.

The vines planted on the steep terrain of Van Duzer’s Westside Bowl in 2001 have come into their own as the source of rich, ripe Pinot Noir grapes. the distinctive style has been captured with the 2005 vintage, in the release of the first block-designate named for the Westside Block. Daytime heat is contained in the west-facing bowl, which also benefits from more sunlight than the rest of the Van Duver estate. "This new designate represents the difference that 200 degree days can have on Pinot Noir wine," said Jim Kakacek, winemaker. Kakacek based his Westside blend on select barrels representing the five Pinot Noir clones planted there and the most promising sections of that vineyard block. "It is a distinctively different style of Pinot Noir that deserves its own label."