We all know the legendary status of the Rochioli family and how they are among the best producers of Pinot Noir in all of California. It's great to be able to taste a wine crafted by Gary Farrell using grapes from one of the Rochioli vineyard parcels. It's a small 240 case production and rolls in around $65 retail.

On the nose this wine is beautifully perfumed and in the classic Russian River style. I get aromas of wild red raspberry, cherry pie filling, wet stone, cherry turnover, and just a touch of oak spice. There is really amazing delineation of aroma and the wine really expresses the essence of the varietal.

On the palate the wine shows a beautiful ripeness and a sexy velvet texture. I get flavors of luscious black cherry, ripe raspberry, oak spice, pie crust, and crushed rocks. This wine shows incredibly purity and beautifully ripened red fruit flavors, and the finish sails on for at least a 2-3 minutes. This is classic Russian River Pinot Noir and I suspect that it will improve with a bit of time in the bottle. 93 points

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