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Wine Details
Price:
$35.00 per bottle
Description:
After experiencing one of the longest times in barrel we have ever given our Pinot Noir, this was bottled only last May, and has just begun to get used to living in a glass house, so to speak. I have learned to hold off on releasing the RRV bottling to restaurants and wine shops until about a year later, when the wine will be ready to begin its life of pleasure-giving the moment the cork is pulled, so you get to see it first. Similar to our RRV bottlings of the past, with a bit of that sweet, loamy earthiness and light herbal character as a counterpoint to the red fruits, this exhibits less of a cola note and more of sassafras character this vintage. I think the sassafras is expressed more in the 'banana belt' on the Sonoma Coast ridges, where the night time temperatures are typically not as low as the RRV slightly inland. In 2003, the vines must have vacationed on these ridges.
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Varietal Definition
Pinot Noir:
The name is derived from the French words for ‘pine’ and ‘black’ alluding to the varietals' tightly clustered dark purple pine cone shaped bunches of fruit. Pinot Noir grapes are grown around the world, mostly in the cooler regions, but the grape is chiefly associated with the Burgundy region of France. It is widely considered to produce some of the finest wines in the world, but is a difficult variety to cultivate and transform into wine. By volume most Pinot Noir in America is grown in California with Oregon coming in second. Other regions are Washington State and New York.During 2004 and the beginning of 2005, Pinot Noir became considerably more popular amongst consumers in the United States, possibly because of the movie Sideways. Being lighter in style, it has benefited from a trend toward more restrained, less alcoholic wines. It is the delicate, subtle, complex and elegant nature of this wine that encourages growers and winemakers to cultivate this difficult grape. Robert Parker has described Pinot Noir: "When it's great, Pinot Noir produces the most complex, hedonistic, and remarkably thrilling red wine in the world."
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