This mountain grown wine shows expresses ripe fruits of the warm days and the acid balance from the cool nights. Vibrant fruit aromas of blueberry, raspberry, and plum are the hallmarks of the aromatics along with a subtle cedar/cigar box note. These aromatics lead into voluptuous flavors of berries and spice in this structured, yet lively Pinot Noir.
In the Anderson Valley of Mendocino County the local residents speak an obscure dialect of English known as Boontling, developed in the late 1800s. The “Muldune Trail” was a term used in Anderson Valley lore o¬en describing the road traversing the ridge to Ukiah. There are other definitions of hitting the “Muldune Trail” that we will leave to the drinker to discover!
Review:
Pouring a deep ruby, the 2021 Pinot Noir Muldune Trail is more extracted with kirsch, polished leather, lavender, and pine. Full-bodied, this is the most powerful wine in this lineup, while having a luxurious feel, a velvety texture, and plushness throughout. Offering notes of turned soil and wooded earth, with meaty berry fruit and black tea, it’s a substantial wine but is well-made. Drink 2025-2040.
-Jeb Dunnuck 94 Points
Walt La Brisa Pinot Noir is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
This 2021 vintage wine opens with luscious red fruits accented with an earthy note of freshly tilled soil. The rich texture is brightened with juicy raspberry and cherry flavors, while toasty barrel notes carry through to a fresh, savory finish.
Review:
An arresting fruit quality and complex layering of flavors lend great interest to this appealing, well-balanced wine. Rhubarb, sour cherry and orange pekoe tea aromas lead to vivid black cherries and warm, subtle spices like cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.
-Wine Enthusiast 95 Points
WALT Wines Blue Jay Pinot Noir is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
Vivid aromas of black cherry, plum, clove and dried meadow grasses rise from the glass. Walt's signature technique of including roasted stems in the fermentation adds a lift of structure and spice to the ripe, plush palate. Dark fruit flavors lead to a finish with beautiful length.
Review:
Powerful aromas of dark cherry, strawberry jam and crushed star anise make for a hedonistic nose on this bottling. The palate ranges from black cherry to baked berry, with cardamom and more star anise as well as a firm tannic frame standing in the background.
-Wine Enthusiast 94 Points
Ripe and seemingly languid, but has an underlying succulence to the mix of dark cherry, raspberry and plum fruit, while sleek anise, black tea and warm earth accents course through the finish. Reveals a late flicker of pine forest, too.
-Wine Spectator 93 Points
WALT Wines Blue Jay Pinot Noir is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
A unique set of vineyards from 'The Corner' of Anderson Valley - located in the hills to the East of Boonville. Both of our estate properties have steep hillsides, aspect, and light gravelly soils that combine to create optimal ripening conditions. These very rugged vineyard sites continuously produce fruit of great depth and character.
. The smooth and silky palate has an extra dimension of depth from our signature technique of including roasted stems in the fermentation. Integrated flavors of dark fruits, barrel char and loamy earth lead to a supple and mouthwatering finish.forest floor and black tea, wild blueberry, ripe cherryThis wine has a captivating nose of
The 2017 was a very different year to 2016 in terms of the viticultural conditions and it was interesting to watch the progression of the wine and scrutinize its quality as it developed over its first two winters. Whereas 2016 had a very mild winter and exceptionally hot summer, this was compensated by abundant winter and spring rainfall. Conversely, 2017 was warm and drythroughout, although summer temperatures were closer to average, whichproved to be a very significant factor allowing for complete, balancedripening.
It is rare to see such tremendous depth and intensity in color as this winedisplays. The freshness of the floral aromas is very attractive with adominance of rockrose, a flower that grows wild around the hills of Senhorada Ribeira. On the palate, it is exceptionally full-bodied, rich andpowerful with black fruit coming to the fore. Gorgeous, ripe fruit isbalanced by the fine tannin structure. On the finish, it is typically Dow,austere and somewhat drier than many other ports. The intense fruit flavors linger long on the palate.
Dow’s Vintage Ports are only produced in years of exceptional quality and represent only a very small part of the total company’s production in that year. On average only two or three times every ten years are the weather conditions sufficiently good to allow for the making of Dow’s Vintage Port.
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Dow’s Vintage Ports have been landmark wines in virtually every great year, consistently setting the standards amongst all Port houses. Vintage Ports such as the remarkable Dow 1896, the 1927, 1945, 1955, 1963, 1966, 1970, 1980 and the Dow 1994 are all legends in the history of this great wine. These Ports are still magnificent today, even when 50 or over 100 years old. Few wines can claim this quality and this pedigree.
Dow's Vintage Ports are drawn from the companies' finest vineyards; Quinta do Bomfim and Quinta de Senhora da Ribeira. Each property contributes to the Dow’s unique and distinctive style. When young, Dow’s Vintage Ports are purple-black, austere, complex and intensely concentrated, full-bodied and balanced with very fine peppery tannins.
Over the centuries, the Dow winemakers have evolved a style that suits the house’s key vineyards; fermentations are a little longer, resulting in a drier Port Wine that has become the hallmark of Dow’s. Abundant fruit flavours with hints of ripe blackberries, give elegance and poise to Dow’s. The nose is deep and powerful with strong overtones of violets when young, these mature into fine cinnamon and rose-tea aromas with age. The very high percentage of Touriga Franca and Touriga Nacional planted on the vineyards result in the powerful structure and aging potential of Dow’s Vintage Ports
Dow’s Ports avoid an over-rich style and requires a very high degree of skill in wine making and great experience in selecting the finest wines of each year and each vineyard. These wines are aged in seasoned oak casks for some 18 months and are bottled without any filtration or fining whatsoever.
Dow Vintage Ports can be enjoyed when vibrant and young or they can be allowed to age for many years in bottle into a soft and delicate wine of velvet-like elegance.
In the 1920’s, the celebrated Oxford Professor George Saintsbury underlined Dow’s outstanding reputation when he wrote in his famous ‘Notes on a Cellarbook’ (first published in 1920), “There is no shipper’s wine that I have found better than the best of Dow’s 1878 and 1890 especially.”
James Suckling, one of today’s leading authorities on Vintage Port was equally impressed by another legendary wine - the Dow’s 1896 - “The ancient {1896} Port still had an amazing ruby colour with a garnet edge, and it smelled of raisins, black pepper and berries. It was full-bodied, with masses of fruit intertwined with layers of velvety tannins. It was superb.” In 1998, when this wine was 102 years old, he awarded this Port an exceptional 98 points.
Review:
Based on fruit from the predominantly south-facing Quinta do Bomfim in the Cima Corgo and Quinta Senhora da Ribeira in the Douro Superior, with Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca making up 80% of the blend. This is opaque and closed in but powerfully ripe with underlying pure berry fruit. It's seemingly quite introverted compared to some of its peers at this stage, but it's still full, rich and opulent on the palate. It also shows the latent power of the vintage, made as it is in a slightly drier style (3.4 Baumé), with lovely minty fruit and full, ripe sinewy tannins all the way through the finish. Long and lithe, and very fine.
-Decanter 97 Points
A dense, thickly textured version, dripping with warm salted licorice, tar and açaí paste notes, while plum and blueberry pâte de fruit, chai spice and chocolate elements fill in behind. Lots of brambly grip flows underneath. Shows a very sappy feel on the finish. Best from 2035 through 2055. 5,250 cases made, 1,092 cases imported
-Wine Spectator 96 Points
This is a dry while also floral wine, perfumed and enticing with its juicy acidity. At the same time, the structure is very present, showing power and dark black fruits. The balance is coming together with the rich fruits and tannins melding into one. Drink from 2028. ROGER VOSS
-Wine Enthusiast 96 Points
Deep dark ruby garnet, opaque core, violet reflections, delicate brightening of the edges. Black wildberry jam underlaid with delicate herbs and spices, tobacco nuances, hints of blueberry jam and elderberries, schisty notes. Powerful, full-bodied, sweetness present, carrying tannins, dark nougat in the finish, very good length, an imperious style, built for a long life.
Falstaff 98 Points
After working with the fruit for over a decade, Turkey is proud to present the first single-vineyard bottling for Turley from the Del Barba Vineyard. Contra Costa is a delta where the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers meet, and these head-trained vines are planted in deep dehli blow sand, made up of decomposed granite coming down from the Sierra Mountains. The resulting wine embodies the best the delta has to offer: silken textures, ultra fine tannin, and dark saline fruits.