2013 Allen Vineyard Pinot Noir
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Tasting notes
(13.7% alcohol; 3.56 pH; from a big crop of large berries): Medium red. Explosive nose combines raspberry, dried strawberry and a whiff of graphite. Surprisingly sappy and tightly wound, with dark berry and saline mineral flavors conveying a musky, savory character. Finishes with lovely length and mineral grip. This wine has been shy from the start, according to Mangahas. Incidentally, the 2012 through 2015 harvests were all carried out earlier than the previous year--and all of them in the first half of August.
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
One of the more understated wines in the range, the 2013 Pinot Noir Allen Vineyard is not obvious, nor are its charms immediately apparent, but it offers lovely textural balance to match its pleasing, welcoming personality. It will be interesting to see if the Allen develops into a more complex wine with bottle age. For now, it is a dark horse in this lineup.
The 2013 Pinot Noir Allen Vineyard has a dark ruby/purple-tinged color, notes of forest floor, and loads of raspberries and black cherries. It is medium-bodied, offers good acidity, and should age beautifully for 10 years.
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.