Lot 960 2018 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir
Lot 960 2018 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir is a distinguished expression of top-shelf estate Russian River Pinot Noir for a weeknight price.
If these Russian River Valley Pinot Noir grapes could talk!! They’d spill the beans about their origins, and then you’d know all about the source winery’s remarkable single-estate vineyards that contributed to this structured blend. Good thing those grapes were crushed, fermented, and turned into one of the most delicious Pinot Noirs we’ve had the privilege of sourcing this year. CH Wine fans… this is a diamond in the rough.
In the glass, Lot 960 2018 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir has a lovely ruby sheen with a hint of purple in the core and an orange-rimmed hue. At 5 years old – this is a wine that has been cellared for you! It’s a heady Pinot with dark brambly fruits, red and black plum, and hints of allspice framed by oak and vanilla. Hello beautiful! It literally leaps out of the glass with expressive fruit, building with mouthwatering acidity, plenty of lift, and a complex vein of minerality through the medium-bodied finish. This is a lovely structured Pinot Noir hitting its stride right now and capable of another 2-4 years of bottle aging.
Super-high-class Swan, DRC, and Pommard clones of Pinot Noir (the same clones coveted by big-name Russian River producers of triple-digit priced Pinots) were blended together to create this utterly dynamic Pinot Noir. Lot 960 delivers a medium-bodied and fashionable wine that was a special Lot selection from the source winery’s epic estate vineyards. This is a wine people would normally pay $70 for, but as a CH Wine “insider” you get these special deals. You and your best wine friends will be fawning over this heady and lifted Pinot with its plummy goodness, baking spice accents, and underpinnings of cedarwood and vanilla. Expressive fruit and minerality, mouthwatering acidity, and the gusto to pair with everything from baked fish and roasted chicken to rack of lamb and Wagyu burgers.
Watch as Katy Long, Director of International Wines for VWE walks us through a tasting of this 2018 vintage Russian River Valley Pinot Noir.
Tasting Video Highlights:
- 00:00 Intro
- 00:13 Lot 960 Info
- 00:22 Russian River Valley
- 00:37 Color of the wine
- 01:00 On the Nose
- 01:28 The Taste
- 02:02 When to Drink
Video Transcript:
Katy Long says:
Hello and welcome back to the CH Wine tasting room. I’m Katy Long and today I have lot 960 this is a 2018 Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley. Some regions are synonymous with their grape varieties and Russian River Pinot Noir is just one of those examples. There is a reason why there’s Pinot Noir planted in this area, and that’s because it thrives and it creates these beautiful wines of complexity.So taking a peek at that color, it is a lovely ruby. It has a hint of purple in the core, almost a bit of orange at the rim, which is kind of to be expected of a Pinot noir, especially one with a few years of age. So what I’m really excited about with this wine is that it is a 2018, which means we’ve done the cellar thing for you.
You can go ahead and open a bottle of this and enjoy immediately, but let me give it a sniff and see if I have anything else to add to that. Oh, this is a heady Pinot noir. There are rumors that just keep unfurling. It is dark bramble fruit. There’s some red plum, some black plum, a hint spice. It might be more of a cinnamon and all spice baking spice component.
And then there’s also this frame of, like oak vanilla. Let’s give it a taste. Hello, beautiful. That wine just jumps out of the glass. Well, on the palate, it’s maybe medium bodied. There’s a good bit of alcohol, and it just kind of lifts up those fruit flavors. It’s mouthwatering acidity. It’s really balanced and it’s a whole lot of fun.
There’s a minerality that also makes it kind of complex. This is a bit more structured than some of the other Pinot Noir, and it is absolutely hitting in its peak window to drink, not to say, though, that it’s not going to continue to evolve for another 3 to 5 years, but I’d say don’t wait, get a case, pop open a bottle and I’ll see you online.
Cheers.
TASTE A 2019 RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY PINOT NOIR