2018 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Occidental Ridge Vineyard, USA, California, Sonoma Coast, Wine Review

This is a much deeper, darker Pinot Noir than the Summa from 2018. Purple/ruby in color, mostly opaque and bright. The nose has black cherries, cherries, spice and dust. Medium to full bodied. Light tannins. On the palate, cherries and powdered cherry candy notes along with some spice. Long finish. This is still drinking very young. Nice on its own, this will work well with food. A nice with for Roasted Lamb Chops. Drink over the next ten to twelve years.

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Score:

Vintage:

2018

Current Price:

$90.00USD

2019 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Occidental Ridge Vineyard, USA, California, Sonoma Coast, Wine Review

Vintage:

2019

Score:

Grade:

Current Price:

$112.00USD

It was interesting tasting this side by side with the 2018. Very similar, but I slightly preferred the 2019. On the other hand, this was very different than the 2014 and 2018 Summa also tasted. Purple/ruby in color, mostly opaque and bright. The nose has black cherries and a cola note. On the palate, this is big, fruit forward with black cherries, some cherries and char. Full bodied. Long finish. This is delicious but clearly filled with sunshine and fruit. Great on its own, this will also work with well roasted fowl but also a steak. Drink over the next ten to fifteen years.

Top Sonoma Pinot Noir

California's Sonoma County has a near-perfect climate for growing cool-weather grapes. Fog banks that creep over the hillsides from the Pacific Ocean and relatively cloudy weather during key months (Californians call it "June Gloom") make many parts of Sonoma an ideal place to plant pinot noir and chardonnay.

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Top California Pinot Noir: Which California Wine Producers Make the Best Pinot Noir?

California has actually been making outstanding wines from the Pinot Noir grape for a long time. Sure, not long in the Burgundian sense but going back at least to the middle of the last century there were good bottles of Pinot Noir being produced in California. Not many to be sure, but there were some. Starting slowly, in the 1990’s, and then exploding when the movie Sideways came out, there are now more and more offerings of good to excellent Pinot Noir being produced in California.

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2016 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Occidental Ridge Vineyard, USA, California, Sonoma Coast, Wine Review

Vintage:

2016

Score:

Grade:

B+

Current Price:

$80.00USD

This is a bigger wine than many of the Sonoma Coast Pinots, as such, it will perhaps, take a bit longer to mature. Purple in color with ruby swirls, mostly opaque and bright. The nose is very tight. Spice. With air, black cherries and slight sour cherries emerge. Great, lush texture. On the palate, cherries, coffee and slight sour cherries. This is either ripe or has a bit of residual sugar as it does come off almost sweet. Nice finish. These needs another seven to ten years in the cellar and it should come together beautifully. Right now, this is a Pinot for those who like them t

Sonoma's Must Try Pinot Noirs - 2015 Best of Sonoma

For the 2015 Best of Sonoma Lists we surveyed hundreds of local vintners asking for their inside perspective of the best wines, tasting rooms, and restaurants in Sonoma. Sonoma offers a wide range of pinot noir options—but some are simply too outstanding to miss. To help develop a list of the top of the top, we asked over a hundred of the top vintners in Sonoma for their own personal choice for the top Pinot Noir under $100 in the area, and the list is to die for.

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2018 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Occidental Ridge Vineyard, USA, California, Sonoma Coast, Wine Review

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