Big Table Farm Sunnyside Pinot Noir 2015

Barrel fermented in mixed age French oak producing a medium clear lemon color. This wine has a luminescent, straw color with a subtle sheen. Meyer lemon, white nectarine, baking spice, and salt water taffy on the nose. The palette offers up warm oak spice, sandalwood, and stone fruit.

With a lemon-butter-cream texture, this wine is lush yet still very bright and fresh. Lively acidity, with a custard type of roundness/richness, and the warm oak spice follows through on the pallet. Delicious balance between richness and freshness.

As with all our whites, this wine will reward you for cellaring.

Reviews:

Bright straw. Fresh citrus and orchard fruits, smoky minerals and ginger on the incisive nose. Silky and focused on the palate, offering nervy Meyer lemon and green apple flavors that give way to deeper melon and peach with air. Finishes silky and long, displaying an echo of bitter citrus pith and lingering spiciness. - Vinous 90 Points

Bright, taut and focused, with spicy pear and Meyer lemon flavors that dance into a long and lively finish. Drink now through 2020. 680 cases made. - Wine Spectator 90 Points

Fullerton Bennett Vineyard Pinot Noir  (magnum) is made from 100% Pinot Noir - 8 years old

18 months in 5% new French Oak and 95% neutral French Oak

Bennett Vineyard is grown in sedimentary Bellpine soil. A new and exciting site in 2015, this hidden jewel of a vineyard produced a graceful Pinot Noir and it is bottled exclusively in 1.5L and 3L magnums. The quality and value of this wine combine with the large format bottles to create an ideal wine for the upcoming fall and winter holiday seasons. Whether shared at your table or gifted to family or friends, this unique bottling is sure to please.

Aromas of cherry and raspberry fold into layers of rhubarb, clove, and pipe tobacco. The lengthy, mineral-driven palate showcases the captivating elegance of Pinot Noir.

Upon arrival, the grapes were immediately de-stemmed into open-top fermenters. Following a seven-day cold soak, the wine started fermenting slowly at a cool temperature. To manage extraction, we utilized one to two punch-downs and one pump-over per day, with two rack- and-returns at the beginning and middle of fermentation. Following two days of seling, the wine was racked to barrel and aged for 18 months in 5% new French oak and 6 months in tank prior to being bottled.

Robert Mondavi Winery Reserve Napa Valley Pinot Noir is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir. 

Robert Mondavi Winery Reserve Napa Valley Pinot Noir Red Wine is a richly complex Napa Valley wine that offers vibrantly intense red plum and dark cherry coulis flavors and aromas highlighted by sweet clove, cinnamon and vanilla. Crafted with carefully sorted pinot noir grapes from the Carneros region in Napa Valley, this California wine matures for nine months, resulting in a delicious red wine with a soft and silky mouthfeel that carries the concentrated fruit flavors gracefully into a long finish. Enjoy this versatile and food-friendly Robert Mondavi red wine by itself or pair it with pink-fleshed fish, beef, veal, game or poultry dishes. It also pairs well with mushroom, parmesan arugula salad or vegetarian dishes such as a cheesy eggplant bake. For best taste and quality, store this red table wine at room temperature and chill for 60 minutes before serving. Please enjoy our wines responsibly. 

Take in the aromas of this wine and it will be as if you stepped into a fresh grove full of deliciously ripe black cherry bushes, deep rich earth, gleaming wet stones and the airy fragrance of fresh forest. This incredibly fragrant pinot noir adds a complex blend of spices (vanilla, clove, nutmeg and pepper) to its earthy and black cherry flavors that ride across the palate in an elegant, silky wave.

Review:

Black cherry, mocha, new leather, dark spices and menthol infuse Mondavi's 2015 Pinot Noir Reserve. Juicy, bold and voluptuous in the glass, the 2015 is decidedly lush and fruit-forward. All the elements meld together effortlessly. The 2015 was done with some whole clusters, but it is the juiciness of the fruit that stands out most.

-- Antonio Galloni 92 Points

Fullerton Five Faces Pinot Noir 100% Pinot Noir - 7-40 years old

FIVE FACES is an acronym for the five members of the Fullerton family - Filip, Alex, Caroline, Eric and Susanne. 
A blend from Fullerton's best vineyard sources, Five FACES Pinot Noir always showcases the breadth of the terroir in the Willamette Valley with the inclusion of both volcanic, basalt-based soils and sedimentary, sandstone-based soils. The fruit hails from geographically diverse sites within the valley, each with their own unique micro-climates.

Lovely ruby with aromas of cherry, strawberry, cinnamon, bramble, and brooding humus. Fresh on the palate with nice persistence leading into the soft, noteworthy tannins. Drink now or hold for up to 5 years.

In order to build a complex and layered Willamette Valley blend, we used open-top, closed-top, and barrel fermentation. For the open-top tanks, we favored punch-downs, whereas the closed-top tanks received pump-overs exclusively. The rotator barrels spun on a schedule yielding a gentle extraction. All methods also received a minimum of two rack-and-returns at precise times during the fermentation process. Nearly all lots were cold-soaked for up to 10 days, and ambient yeasts carried out the fermentation. In total, we utilized 15% whole clusters. The wine was aged for 11 months in 20% new French oak barrels.

Review:

"The 2015 'Five Faces' Pinot Noir shows deep profile with aromatics leading to wild mushroom, black cherry and wild blackberry. The palate displays a medium weight with flavors of orange zest, black truffle, wild blackberry cobbler and a hint of cola. This is delicious and shows excellent balance. (Best 2017-2027) - July, 2017 (OB)"

- International Wine Report (July 2017), 91 pts

Nautilus Southern Valleys Pinot Noir is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir. 

The 2015 Nautilus Pinot Noir is dark ruby in color. The nose reveals gentle floral aromas, ripe wild blackberries, cherries and spices. The palate is medium bodied with good structure. Refined and balanced, this elegant wine shows good intensity and a lengthy finish.

Review:

A smart pinot noir from the get-go with bright strawberry, boysenberry and cherry fruits on offer, as well as nicely judged oak influence and a gentle reductive inflection. The palate has a smooth flow of fine tannins carrying plenty of red cherry fruit flavor. Attractive resolve here.

-James Suckling 93 Points

This wine combines so much of what we've come to love about New Zealand Pinot. It's light and bright but serious too, with plenty of site expression. Raspberry and blueberry compote, violets, baking spices and sun-baked stones all dance together on the nose. There's plush fruit on the palate but a savoriness too, framed by sinewy tannins and finishing on a stoney, mineral note. 

Editors' Choice.

-Wine Enthusiast 93 Points 

Argot Bastard Tongue Pinot Noir is made from 100 percent Sonoma Pinot Noir.

Inheriting an unbroken string of success, the “Bastard Tongue” arrives fully-formed and ready to impress. Always a blend from multiple Pinot Noir vineyards, this iteration of “BT” was selected from three distinct sites, each making their own unique contribution of Sonoma County terroir to the wine’s character.

Exploding forth on a tidal wave of high-toned, intense red and black fruits, this is a Pinot Noir that no stemware can contain. The palate’s profound depth is balanced by an inherent freshness, allowing the wine to crackle with brambly energy, while sustained by bass notes of underbrush, black tea, pie spice and baker’s chocolate. A formidable rendition of “Bastard Tongue”, and a deserving successor to its line.

Night harvested by hand throughout September, cluster and berry sorted by hand, de-stemmed, no crushing. 7-day cold soaks, followed by native fermentation in open-top bins. Average time on the skins, 14 days. Aging 20 months in French oak, 100% new. Never racked prior to bottling. Bottled unfined, unfiltered.

Very versatile for pairing. Goes well with grilled meat, vegetable, fish, poultry and cheese.

Review:

"A more limited production cuvée, the 2018 Pinot Noir Bastard Tongue is a big, ripe, sexy beast of a Pinot Noir delivering loads of black cherry and black raspberry fruit intermixed with plenty of spring flowers, sappy herb, and forest-like nuances. Full-bodied, it has a hedonistic, sweetly fruited style, ripe tannins, and a great finish. It doesn’t pull any punches yet stays balanced, textured, and a joy to drink. It should keep for 5-7 years or so.”

- Jeb Dunnuck, 95 pts