2021 The Observer Pinot Noir
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Tasting Notes
Bramble fruit, juicy black plum and faint cola swirl together in the glass, along with a distinctive, woodsy, evergreen note. Grippy tannins frame this young beauty, which is slightly brooding at first but bursts with vivacity. Sourced from the Anderson Valley’s Angel Camp Vineyard, the grapes for this wine are a mix of David Bruce and Dijon 828 clones and it was aged for 16 months in partial new French oak.
Critic Scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Wine Enthusiast
More reviews and scores
Lively and vivacious right from the start, this wine opens with a fresh red cherry pop, just-plucked strawberries, herbaceous Earl Grey tea, juicy-tart cranberry and a rose-meets-violet potpourri. The palate keeps it going, driven with generous acidity, a balanced level of alcohol and firm, structural tannins. Find additional notes of cacao, nutmeg, forest floor, mushroom and a touch of wood. Enjoy now. Even better, hold until 2027 and beyond.
A ripe but transparent red hue, the 2021 Pinot Noir The Observer is spicy with cinnamon, menthol, and red cherry. Medium-bodied, it retains good freshness and has more wooded spice and a saline feel on the finish, with ripe but present tannins.
An open and fluid pinot with lovely subtle fruit and layers of fine tannins. A little austere from the whole cluster fermentation but all there. Sliced green strawberries and orange peel. Full to medium body. One to watch. Attractive now but a year or two of bottle age will bring it together.
About the producer
Donum is a leading estate in Northern California. Based in Carneros, the property’s focus is crafting single-site Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Carneros, the Russian River Valley, Anderson Valley and Sonoma Coast. The estate is also dotted with one of the finest sculpture collections in the world.