1996 Allen Vineyard Pinot Noir
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Tasting notes
(13.7% alcohol; 24% whole clusters; 3.67 pH): Fully mature pale red-amber. Wilder on the nose than the 1995 version, offering rather nuanced soil-driven scents of strawberry, mocha, smoke and Brazil nuts. In a large-scaled, silky, nutty style, with its strawberry fruit complicated by truffle and underbrush and lifted by the spiciness brought by vinification with whole clusters. A point but not yet showing any obvious oxidative character. This very nicely balanced Pinot finishes with well-integrated tannins and noteworthy length.
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 1996 Pinot Noir Allen Vineyard (13.7% alcohol) is a soft, light ruby-colored wine with good freshness, a stylish, understated, restrained personality, and pleasant berry fruit intermixed with cherries and strawberries. The color is deceptively light for the amount of flavor, but this is reminiscent of a good Cote de Beaune-Villages or premier cru. Drink it over the next 5-6 years. The eight Pinot Noir tasting notes in this segment represent about half of the available cuvees. All of the offerings revealed high levels of tangy acidity, a style that allows the winery to utilize extremely low levels of sulphur, a worthy objective. I tasted four 1996 Pinot Noirs,all of which has been sold out. They are bottled with no fining or filtration after only two rackings. These wines tend to be aged in Francois Freres Burgundy cooperage, with a high percentage of new oak. Tel. (707) 433-6425; Fax (707) 578-3882
Medium red. Spicy, tangy aromas of sweet cherry, red berries and smoked meat; this could be mistaken for a Gevrey Chambertin Clos St. Jacques in a blind tasting. Terrific intensity of cherry and red berry flavor with solid, integrated acids. Quite youthful and fresh for a pinot noir from this vintage. Finishes firm and very long; in fact, this has one of the strongest, most persistent finishes of any recent pinot release from this winery.
About the producer
Williams Selyem is an iconic Russian River Valley winery best known for its Pinot Noir. Producing restrained yet classically Californian expressions of the heartbreak grape (as well as a host of other wines), the property has gone from pioneer to one of the region’s standard-bearers.