Pinot Noir
Russian River Valley, 2007

Winemaker's Notes

One of the most commonly asked questions I have been asked over the past 6 months, is ‘when are you going to release the 2007 RRV Pinot Noir?’ I have been frustratingly vague about it since I prefer to see how the wines are adjusting to being in bottle before promising anything. ‘Any day now, any day now . . .’ Even after working in wineries for 31 vintages, I have not yet figured out how to exactly predict when a wine will truly ‘hit its stride.’ Since we tend to bottle later than most other producers, there is less time to be sure the wines are recovered from bottling before committing to a release date. After sampling many bottles purely in the name of research (of course), I am happy to ‘let this one go’ here with one request: Please take your time on these. A bottle sampled over several days opens up significantly on day 2 and day 3. If you are looking for something young to pop and pour during the next year or so, I’d suggest taking a very hard look at the 2005 (if you have some, we are sold out) or the 2006 vintage (still available) and let the 2007 rest a bit longer.

An initially reticent nose opens up to dark fruits, purple plum, cookie dough, a hint of cardamom and comfortable earth. Surprisingly, tart pie cherry appears in the mouth and the supporting structure drives the wine deep into food-friendly salivary territory. There is a rather dense kernel of flavor there that reminds me of ‘Miracle Max’ in the movie The Princess Bride when he plugs his ears and chants ‘I’m not listening’ in response to his wife’s urging him to tell the truth to their visitors. There’s a lot of ‘there’ there, but it is not quite ready to show all of its tricks. I think another 18 months in the bottle will make this an irresistible smooth ride — like when the little knobs wear off of that set of new tires and they are just broken in. Your mileage may vary [sorry, could not resist].