2019 Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir
Russian River Valley
In Stock
Wine Specs
Vintage
2019
Varietal
Pinot Noir
Appellation
Russian River Valley
Vineyard Designation
Dutton Ranch
Acid
6.0 gm/Lit.
pH
3.50
Aging
10 months in French oak (40% new barrels)
Bottling Date
August 2020
Alcohol %
13.5
Wine Spectator
92
Wine Profile
Tasting Notes
With a long, cool season like 2019, we were able to ripen our pinot evenly and gently, allowing us the luxury of zeroing in on our perfect picking date. We harvested our first vineyards for this blend on September 10, and our last on October 1. Notes of deep dark cherry and blackberry lead the nose, weaved through with rhubarb and violets adding their savory and floral accents. The aromas become more saturated and dense with time in the glass, showing candied raspberry and earthy peat top and bottom notes. The mouth is full, rich, and sleek, with a tempting mix of black raspberry and baking spices creating a sultry caress across your palate. A brooding yet fresh finish lingers well into your next sip.
Vineyard Notes
Dutton Ranch farms over eighty unique vineyards located in the coolest areas of the Russian River Valley, primarily in the Green Valley sub-appellation. The Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir blend represents our vision for the character of this special region: juicy berry fruit in both the nose and the mouth, solid structure with fine tannins, and alluring balance. Galante, Silva, Emerald Ridge, Widdoes, Martens, and Jentoft are all in the heart of Green Valley, and each contributes a unique variation of Green Valley fruit to heighten the complexity of the blend. Morelli Lane is high on Stoetz Ridge on the western edge of the Russian River Valley and offers a bit of warmer cherry fruit to the mix. Freestone is in the far southwestern corner of the appellation, and contributes its killer depth and spice to the base notes of the blend.
Vineyards: All Certified Sustainable-
Bush, Campbell, Maurice Galante, Emerald Ridge, Silva, Morelli Lane, Goff, Hallberg, Widdoes, Ruxton
Production Notes
The fruit is hand sorted prior to destemming then gravity fed into small open top fermenters where the must is then cold-soaked for 5 days in order to gently extract spice and fruit characters, while mitigating harsher tannins. We punch down up to 3 times daily, depending on the stage of the fermentation and the nature of the vineyard. Each vineyard block is fermented separately in order to maintain typicity, and to provide us with the most flexibility for blending. Our Pinots generally spend 14 to 20 days on the skins, according to the need of each fermentation. After fermentation, the individual lots are pressed and then racked into French oak barrels to age. We carefully blend our favorite lots in early spring. The final blend rests in barrel six months, marrying flavors and gaining complexity, until we bottle in August with minimal processing.
Food Pairing Notes
Play up the silky texture with similar foods like slow-cooked salmon, succulent duck or pork, or mushroom risotto. An aged Gouda or young Cantal would make great cheese matches.
Other Notes
93, Planet Grape; 91, Burghound.com; 90, Jeb Dunnuck; 92, Owen Bargreen;