Wine & Spirits - April 2021 - 80

Year's Best US Pinot Noirs
91 | Cirq

$150

2018 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir ^
Michael Browne established Cirq in 2009
and later, after selling his interest in Kosta
Browne, he took over Cirq in 2018 and purchased property for an estate winery with
his wife, Sarah. Previously focused on single-vineyard wines, Cirq will become his top
selection from his favored vineyards. His
2018 is a powerful, dense pinot noir graced
by brightness of cool raspberry fruit and
equally cool earthiness, like the soil of a rose
garden turned in spring. The tannins have a
salty, cocoa nibs flavor, needing time to meld
into the fruit. -J.G. §
522766

91 | Davis Bynum

$55

2017 Russian River Valley Lindley's Knoll
Pinot Noir ^ Lindley's Knoll is a block within
Jane's Vineyard, an estate property on the
Santa Rosa plain. It produces a full and substantive pinot, gentle and full, with sleek
richness from oak age. There's a clean, quiet
sophistication to the tannins with an earthy
black-mushroom undertone. Pour it with
rare roast beef. -J.G. §

522463

91 | El Pino Club

$50

2018 Russian River Valley The Cusp Pinot
Noir ^ Part of a pinot noir-focused brand from
Foley Family, this wine grows at the firm's
Trenton Road Vineyard. Darrell Holbrook
makes this particular bottling, a warm and
rich wine with dense tannins to power the
sweet red cherry and pomegranate fruit. It's
firm and juicy without feeling thick, a deep,
satisfying red to pour with a steak. (1,000
cases) -J.G. §
522773

91 | Landmark Vineyards

$40

2018 Russian River Valley Hop Kiln Estate
Pinot Noir (Best Buy) ^ With sweet notes of
pomegranate molasses over salty mineral
tannins, this wine offers a playful harmony in
its flavors, ending clean, without any excess
weight. It's a juicy pinot that could stand up
to fire-grilled pork riblets. -J.G.

WINE & SPIRITS

APRIL 2021

523732

91 | J Vineyards & Winery

521450
$90

90 | Gary Farrell

$80

2017 Russian River Valley Barrel 16 Pinot
Noir ^ Barrel 16 is the top selection from J's
Russian River Valley estate vineyards. It's a
silken pinot, refreshing in its sour cherry flavors and lasting fresh strawberry notes. The
style is clean, even as the wine's tannins carry
a scent of moist soil and some iron-like mineral firmness. Delicious with calf liver sautéed
with bacon and onions. (775 cases) -J.G. § §

2017 Russian River Valley Rochioli-Allen
Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ Fashionably oaked,
this balances its bacon note and wood tannins with perfumed fruit-from sweet strawberries to tart cranberries and red-skinned
apple. A soft, persistent acidity drives the
flavors in the end, spicy and elegant. -J.G.
(W&S 10/20; 369 cases) §
522775

522947

2018 Russian River Valley Georganne
Pinot Noir ^ Merry Edwards and Ken Coopersmith planted this Westside Road vineyard for Georganne and Bob Proctor in 2006;
they have a long-term lease on the property,
a benchland site above the Russian River. In
2018, the vines produced a savory and tannic pinot, slow to yield its pale Rainier cherry
flavors. All the tannic extract needs a meaty
braise to offset it, or several years in the cellar to mellow. -J.G. §
522779

90 | Castle Rock

$17

90 | Domaine Della

$65

2018 Russian River Valley Reserve Pinot
Noir (Best Buy) ^ This straight-ahead pinot
hits all the right notes in its smoky, pinescented aroma and sleek caramel and cherry
flavors. It's all presented with good tension
and balance, over delivering for the price.
-P.J.C. §
522460
2018 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir ^
Heady, rich and ripe, this is a bold pinot
noir boosted by a lot of oak. The wood comes
across in notes of smoke and vanillin, and in
the rich darkness of the tannins. As round as
the wine is, the fruit remains brisk, ready to
take on roast squab. (400 cases) -J.G. §
522751

90 | Eleven Eleven

$65

2018 Russian River Valley Bacigalupi
Pinot Noir ^ All forest savor, this is pinot noir
for a woodsman's cabin, a wine with cedar
smoke and maitake scents. Turn over a log in
the woods and you might get a similar scent,
dark and rich with humus. Decant it for roast
game birds stuffed with mushrooms. -J.G. §

90 | Merry Edwards Winery $66

90 | Merry Edwards Winery $73

2018 Russian River Valley Klopp Ranch
Pinot Noir ^ Ted Klopp's vineyard is on the
eastern slope of the Laguna Ridge, this wine
including fruit from some of the original
plantings in the late 1980s on deep Goldridge
soil. It's a big pinot noir saturated with red
cherry and blackberry flavors, equal to the
potent tannins. If you open it now, serve it
with a well-marbled steak to manage some of
those tannins. -J.G. §
522763

90 | Russian River Vyds.

$47

90 | Russian River Vyds.

$65

2017 Russian River Valley Burke Family
Vineyard Pinot Noir (Best Buy) ^ Giovanni
Balistreri makes this wine from a 1.25-acre
vineyard in the southeastern corner of the
Russian River Valley. It's a quiet pinot noir
with gentle length of flavor, hinting at
wakame and soy, its intriguing smokiness
suited to Japanese grilled eel. -J.G. §
522768
2017 Russian River Valley Bella Luna Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ This wine's first impression
is black, both in its cherry and mushroom flavors. It opens to some brighter, jammy red

Wine & Spirits - April 2021

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