2021 Nunes Vineyard

92 Points: Jim Gordon Wine Enthusiast - June/July 2023

“This well-concentrated but light-bodied and nicely grippy wine offers black tea, black cherries, rhubarb and raspberry flavors on an appropriately firm texture of good acidity and moderate tannins. Not a cocktail hour wine but something elegant to serve at dinner.”

The 2021 vintage delivered a moderate and consistent growing season for most of Sonoma County, leading to a smooth, easily manageable harvest. While the continuation of drought conditions led to slightly reduced yields, the overall quality and concentration of the grapes was exceptional. We were able to hand-harvest the grapes exactly when we wished in the cool evening hours of September 3, 2021.

The grapes for this Pinot Noir came exclusively from Nunes Vineyard located in the Santa Rosa Plains neighborhood of the Russian River Valley. The vineyard is owned by Fred and Wendy Nunes, and the property has been in Fred’s family since the 1950s. The vineyard is on an alluvial bench just east of Highway 101, and it has an array of soil types. Wendy likes to describe it as a “Marble Cake,” of soils that run through the property. It is planted to a number of different clones that we picked as a field blend of clones 667, 777, and 115.

• composition:

  100% Pinot Noir

• alcohol: 12.8%
• cases made:

  556 Cases

• bottling date: 07/26/2022
• aging:

  Aged 10 months in French oak, 36% new

• fermentation:

  Gently destemmed into open-top fermenters; three-day cold soak; cap management included pump-overs & punch-downs