2017 DuMOL “WESTER REACH AND WILD MOUNTAINSIDE” SPECIAL MIXED 15-PACK

The 2017 Wester Reach Chardonnay combines fruit from Dutton Ranch Hansen Hill, O’Connell Estate, Dutton Ranch Jentoft, Charles Heintz and Lorenzo Vineyards

Winemaker’s Notes

The 2017 Wester Reach Chardonnay combines three singular traits: coastal freshness and vibrancy; Russian River Valley natural richness, density and texture; and subtle elements of Burgundian savory/saline reduction. In essence, a blend of three of our single vineyard Chardonnays, it is a wine that drinks at an equivalent quality level to our lower production wines.  From the lowest-yielding vintage in twenty years, there’s inherent concentration here, a depth of flavor coming from the vines themselves rather than winemaking artifice. But there’s also a firmness and seriousness that offsets this mid-palate weight and extends its citrus-oil-infused finish. The wine has great lines: focused, driven, mineral-laden and pithy, with a level of cool-climate fruit intensity that is very rare. This level of quality and distinctive character is hard to achieve in a larger-production blended wine, but is a testament to our pedigreed vineyards, precise farming, twenty years’ experience, and patient, sensitive craftsmanship.

Drink between 2019 and 2027.

The 2017 Wester Reach Pinot intertwines fruit from O’Connell Estate, Dutton Upp Road, Widdoes and Occidental Road Vineyards.

Winery Notes: “The vineyards that comprise our 2017 Wester Reach Pinot Noir represent our core sites that we have planted, farmed or partnered with for up to twenty-two years-sites of classic pedigree from which our single vineyard Pinots are born. There’s lovely equilibrium to this wine: four distinct vineyards come together seamlessly to express the soils and climate of the western, coastal part of the appellation. Berry and cluster size were very small in 2017 so the wine is high on detail and intensity, and beautifully rides the delicate line between richness and vibrancy.  The wine is dynamic, alive and precise. It begins in a coastal style–sleek, focused and linear. The deep entry expands along strong lines with good drive and detail to its red and black fruit flavors. As it fully opens, natural Russian River textures and volume takes hold – broad, supple and layered. Savory elements steer the wine toward complexity that will continue to build in bottle.

Drink between 2019 and 2029.

The 2017 Wild Mountainside Syrah combines fruit from Hoppe-Kelly, Timbervine, and Greywacke Vineyards…

Winemaker’s Notes: “This is one of our finest Syrahs in recent memory with a level of aroma and flavor complexity that really elevates the wine to the highest level. A blend of three of our classic cool climate mountainside sources, it is a qualitative equal of our designate wines that will be released this fall. Vine yields in these steep mountainside vineyards were reduced by twenty percent following a week of intense heat around Labor Day; the grapes lost a fifth of their weight making the fruit intense, pure and focused with thrilling concentration. The resulting wine conveys a kaleidoscopic range of aromas and flavors that are precise and brimming with nuance and detail. It’s an exciting, delicious and highly delineated wine with an energy that creates a great juxtaposition between delicacy and depth, subtlety and power, elegance and drive. Black cherry, boysenberry, lavender, violet and green peppercorn are all present in the aroma. There’s lovely clarity of flavor and purity of cool climate fruit: cassis and blackberry offset by thyme, tobacco and cocoa nib. A lushness of texture takes over with lingering black fruits and lilac on the peppery, extended finish. Drink this soon after release or enjoy the reward of 10+ years of aging.”