Weekend Selection

2010 Sonoma-Cutrer Russian River Pinot Noir

I first became acquainted with Sonoma-Cutrer during a Sonoma wine tasting event in the 80’s and met Brice Cutrer Jones. When I tasted his Chardonnay, in a word, outstanding, one of the best I have tasted, but that was a while ago. In a few weeks I will review Sonoma-Cutrer’s current Chardonnay offerings, however today I will focus on their Pinot Noir, which by the way came sometime afterwards.  Brice Cutrer Jones focus was only Chardonnay when he started the vineyard in 1973 and released his first vintage in 1981.  In 1999, Brown-Forman, the Kentucky-based drinks giant whose holdings include Korbel California Champagnes (and I use the term “Champagnes” loosely here) acquired Sonoma-Cutrer.

Pinot Noir is a demanding grape and only grows well in the right conditions, climate, soil and proper care, perhaps that is why the grape is favored by most.  Pinot Noir, the Nobel grape from Burgundy, comes from a region in France known for crafting coveted wines made from this grape varietal.  In addition, the Champagne region in France, uses Pinot Noir, which is the main grape used in crafting their sparkling wines.  There are other areas that Pinot Noir has been grown successfully, such as Oregon, New Zealand and of course California.  In fact Oregon makes some outstanding Pinot Noir’s and I have a few of them coming up in future posts to discuss.  I should note that the flavor and aroma of Pinot Noir’s are very different from France vs. California, in part due to the delicacy and complexity of the grape and its growing conditions.

The 2010 Sonoma-Cutrer Russian River Pinot Noir is an outstanding offering from the winery.  The color is a clear and bright ruby red, somewhat translucent, giving off aromas of fresh fruit, black raspberries and cherries with traces of spices, cinnamon and vanilla.  The wine is silky smooth, very neat with rich fruit flavors, tangy acid and fine tannins that round out a nice finish.  Pick up this great offering for around $35 a bottle.  I suggest that you visit the Sonoma-Cutrer website and you will find out some interesting information as well as recipes and some food pairings.  I will be back with a review of one of their Chardonnay offerings, soon!

Cheers!