2017 Arista Pinot Noir Two Birds
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
Pale to medium ruby, the 2017 Pinot Noir Two Birds Estate has pretty scents of crushed blackberries, raspberries and rhubarb with accents of tobacco leaves, dried flowers and licorice. Medium-bodied, it's silky smooth in the mouth and explodes with pure, perfumed red berry fruits, culminating in a long, layered finish. This is a more generous style which can be drunk immediately or cellared.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
There are two black label Pinot Noirs. The 2017 Pinot Noir Two Birds Estate Vineyard reveals a ruby/purple hue that's almost opaque. Seeing the same 100% destemming, fermentation in stainless steel, and 11 months in one-third new French oak, this savory, spice, dried earth, mulberry, and coal-scented beauty hits the palate with medium to full-bodied, subtle background oak, good overall freshness, and a great finish. It picks up more and more sweet fruit on the mid-palate with time in the glass, has ripe tannins, and is a classic Russian River Pinot Noir that's going to benefit from 2-3 years of bottle age and cruise for over a decade in cool cellars. With the wines made by Matt Courtney, this Russian River estate continues to make some of the best wines in the vintage.
The 2017 Pinot Noir Two Birds is a powerful wine. Black cherry, chocolate, new leather and spice come together in an especially rich, bombastic Russian River Pinot. I find the extraction and oak here to be overdone.