Rivers-Marie Bearwallow Vineyard Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley, USA 2021

Planted to Swan clone plus a mix of 30 different field selections, Bearwallow’s expression is incredibly complex and a bit hard to pin down early. It is predominately red fruited, very floral and features soil driven notes of black tea and mint. This deep end Anderson Valley site is helping to rewrite the history of Mendocino County Pinot Noir and we’ve been excited to be a part of it since 2015.

This is definitely the most backward of the 2021s. Usually it’s one of the extreme Sonoma Coast bottlings that needs the most time to unwind but here this deep end Anderson Valley wine features abundant fruit tannin and natural acidity. I think the 12.9% alcohol also has something to do with that, there’s no glycerol sweetness to balance all the rawness of the wine at this early stage. The lower ripeness level leads to a wine that is light to medium in color and is focused aromatically on bright red fruits and floral notes of freesia and rose petals. The traditional wildness of Anderson Valley pokes in on the palate with chalk, mint, roasted herbs and loamy earth. Even for all the restraint, there’s a mouthwatering character to the wine that makes it appealing now with food and promises a long life ahead.