Estate Pinot Noir Reviews

Medium ruby-purple in color, the 2014 Pinot Noir Estate offers earth and dried herb notes to begin, giving way to a core of red and black cherries and mulberries, plus suggestions of lavender and garrigue. Full-bodied and richly fruited in the mouth, it has a great backbone of grainy tannins and refreshing acid supporting the generous red and black berry flavors, finishing long and earthy.

Moderate reddish purple color in the glass. A regal nose leads off with aromas of black cherry, black raspberry, forest floor, spice and toast. Plush and full-bodied in the mouth with accommodating tannic backbone, offering layers of black raspberry, blackberry and plum fruits accented with spice and dark chocolate. Almost too much of a good thing. Classy, with good acidity lifting the fruit load, finishing uncommonly long and generous. Best to lock this wine away for a few years.

Bedecked with a large gold fleur-de-lis on the bottle, this wine is showy in flavor too, a rich, ripe celebration of California exuberance, full bodied in cranberry, cherry, orange and blackberry fruitiness. —V.B.  

The third Pinot Noir I tasted from DeLoach is the 2012 Pinot Noir Estate Olivet Bench. A dark plum/ruby hue is followed by sweet black cherry, loamy soil, earth and Asian plum sauce notes. Medium-bodied, ripe, well-balanced and pure, this is a beauty to drink over the next 5-6 years.
 

Dry and earthy, with tobacco, mushroom and raspberry flavors, accented with smoky oak. Feels a bit hollow in the middle palate and short on the finish, but is an elegant, silky wine. Drink now. —

This is notably more complex than the 2011 Russian River Valley with its layered mix of red and blue pinot fruit, spice and soft briar notes. There is good volume to the very generous and round medium-bodied flavors that are shaped by riper tannins on the dusty and mouth coating finish. This could easily be enjoyed young though there is enough underlying material to suggest that 3 to 5 years of cellar time would be rewarded.

Deep, dark, rich and layered, with tiers of pure, focused blackberry, boysenberry and raspberry fruit, gaining depth and dimension on the finish. Drink now through 2022. 375 cases made.

This Pinot Noir may become more rich and charming in coming years, but right now it’s fresh, tart and jammy in raspberries and cherries. It’s also a bit heavy, almost as if a bit of Grenache found its way into the blend. — S.H. (6/1/2012)