2016 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Bearwallow Vineyard
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Tasting notes
From the newer plantings, the 2016 Pinot Noir Bearwallow Vineyard is young and tight, with vibrant notes of black tea, black plums, spice, and earthy minerality. This medium-bodied effort has bright acidity and building tannins, and needs a solid 2-3 years of bottle age. Rivers Marie is the joint project between the husband wife team of Thomas Rivers Brown (of Schrader) and Genevieve Marie Welsh. The label was created in 2002 and includes wines from both Napa and Sonoma. Their Sonoma focus (which is the focus on this report) is on cool climate sites, and the Summa Vineyard, which was purchased by Brown and Welsh in 2010 located far out in the Occidental Ridge region of the Sonoma Coast, can be thought of as the heart of the estate. I tasted four Chardonnays for this report and six different Pinot Noir, all having singular and distinctive characters, which isn’t a given. These are elegant, Burgundian-styled wines that will benefit from short term cellaring, and I suspect be very long lived.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
A hugely promising wine, the 2016 Pinot Noir Bearwallow Vineyard is fabulous. Rich, powerful and explosive, with notable fruit density, the Bearwallow is compelling. Inky red and purplish berry fruit and exotic spice notes are front and center. Even with all of its exuberance, the 2016 possesses tremendous structure and depth. Readers will have to be patient, as the Bearwallow does not seem to offer the early appeal of many the other wines in this range.