2016 Pinot Noir Fraenkle Cheshier Vineyard
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
A positively stunning wine, the 2016 Pinot Noir Fraenkle-Cheshier is every bit as compelling from bottle as it was from barrel. Super-ripe red cherry, plum, blood orange and wild flowers all rush from the glass. Vibrant and wonderfully alive, the Fraenkle-Cheshier is one of the many highlights in this range. This late-ripening site in the Sebastopol Hills yields mid-weight, racy Pinots of real pedigree and class.
Critic scores
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Medium to deep ruby-purple colored, the 2016 Pinot Noir Fraenkle Cheshier gives up notes of blackberries, black raspberries, redcurrants and underbrush with wafts of bay leaves and Indian spices. The full-bodied palate is big, rich, robust and spicy with a chewy structure and long, earthy finish. 291 cases were made.
The 2016 Pinot Noir Fraenkle-Cheshier is a more than worthy follow up to the superb 2015. Deceptive in its mid-weight structure, the 2016 offers a super-intriguing combination of unctuous fruit, aromatic intensity and structure. Blood orange, raspberry jam and spice are some of the many notes that build as the wine opens up in the glass. A long vegetative cycle and ensuing late harvest in this Sebastopol Hills give a very distinctive exotic quality to the fruit. The 2016 is a wine of real pedigree and class. Don't miss it.
About the producer
Paul Hobbs is one of California wine’s biggest names. Twice named Wine Personality of the Year by Robert Parker, he joined Robert Mondavi in 1977, worked at Opus One and Simi before setting up his eponymous winery in 1991.