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: 2017 Rivers-Marie "Summa Old Vines" Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

2017 Rivers-Marie "Summa Old Vines" Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

SKU #1419201 97 points Jeb Dunnuck

Outer quote mark I’d put the 2017 Pinot Noir Summa Old Vines up there with any Pinot Noir coming out of California today. It’s a brilliant, magical, age-worthy wine from this tiny vineyard located far out on the Sonoma Coast. Similar to the straight Summa Vineyard yet with even more structure, it offers a complex bouquet of blackberries, black cherries, baking spiced, graphite, and earth, with an exotic, orange zest-like character developing with time in the glass. Full-bodied, concentrated, with both tannins and acidity, it needs 2-4 years of bottle age and should easily evolve for 15-20 years. Bravo! This cuvée comes from vines planted in 1978, spent 10 months all in new oak (of which it shows not a trace), and there are a scant 180 cases made. 97+ Inner quote mark (6/2019)

96 points Vinous

Outer quote mark The 2017 Pinot Noir Summa Old Vines is ravishingly beautiful from the very first taste. Exotic floral and blood orange notes give the Old Vines striking aromatic intensity. Bright, sensual and impeccable, the 2017 is arrestingly beautiful, even in the early going. As always, the Old Vines is ethereal and gracious in feel. Readers who enjoy Pinots with more flesh on the bones may prefer some of the other wines in the range. For me, the Old Vines has an extra degree of pure class. (AG) Inner quote mark (5/2019)

93 points Wine Advocate

Outer quote mark The 2017 Pinot Noir Summa Old Vines, from vines planted in 1978, was aged 10 months in 50% new French oak. Medium ruby, it gives scents of toast, woodsmoke, oolong tea leaves and potpourri over blackberries, cranberry, pomegranate and a touch of underbrush. It's light to medium-bodied and silky with spicy layers and a well-woven, juicy frame, finishing very long. (EB) 93+ Inner quote mark (12/2019)

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2017 Rivers-Marie "Summa Old Vines" Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

Price: $149.99

Quantity:

JD: 97

VN: 96

RP: 93

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Additional Information:

Varietal:

Pinot Noir

- One of France's most legendary grapes and the grape that earned Burgundy its reputation. The parent of varietals like Pinot Gris/Grigio and Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir is blue to violet to indigo in color with relatively thin skins, and it is said to have been cultivated in France for more than 2,000 years. At its best, Pinot Noir creates elegant wines that are filled with primary red fruit aromas and flavors while young, revealing with an array of secondary characteristics like earth, smoke, violet, truffle and game with age. The varietal is also known, perhaps better than any, for its ability to translate terroir, or a sense of place. While the best Pinot Noir still comes from Burgundy, it is being produced with increasing success in cooler climates around the world. In France, it is part of the trifecta of grapes that can go into Champagne, and it is also grown in Alsace, Irancy, Jura, Savoie, Lorraine and Sancerre. Outside of France it is produced under the names Pinot Nero and Blauburgunder in Italy's mountainous regions, as Spätburgunder in Germany and as Blauburgunder in Austria. In the US, Pinot Noir has found suitable growing conditions in the cooler parts of California, including Carneros, the Russian River Valley, the Anderson Valley, the Sonoma Coast, Monterey County, the Santa Lucia Highlands and Santa Barbara County, as well as in Oregon's Willamette Valley. In recent years, New Zealand has demonstrated its ability to interpret this hard-to-grow varietal, with successful bottlings coming from careful and attentive growers in Central Otago, Martinborough and Canterbury. Chile is also an up-and-coming region for Pinot Noir, creating fresh, fruit-forward, early-drinking and affordable Pinots from the coastal Casablanca Valley and the Limari Valley.

Country:

United States

- When people consider domestic wine, they normally think about the state of California. The fine viticultural Region within California, including the Napa Valley, Sonoma, Santa Cruz Mountains, Mendocino and Santa Barbara, are capable of growing grapes of world-class quality. But there's plenty of fabulous wine coming from other states, too. Oregon, Washington and New York are also causing eyebrows (and glassware) to be raised around the world.

Sub-Region:

California

- With the explosive growth that California's wine industry has seen the past several years, it's easy to view winemaking and grape growing in the Golden State as a recent phenomenon. And while it's true that California's viticultural history is brief compared to several European countries, this state's roots date back well over 200 years. Due to the enormous response to California wine within the United States and worldwide, there are thousands of excellent and diverse wines being produced within the state each year.

Specific Appellation:

Sonoma County

- Second in fame only to Napa, this "other" valley offers just about every climate and topography imaginable. From its cool and fog-enshrouded coastal regions on the far west, to the sprawling Alexander Valley on the boarder of Napa and the many little dips and peaks in between, Sonoma has been a vital wine-grape-growing region since the mid 1800s. Important sub-AVAs include Chalk Hill (known for chardonnay and sauvignon blanc), Dry Creek Valley (where zin is king) Knights Valley (largely cabernet land), Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast (both celebrated pinot and chardonnay zones).