2013 Pinot Noir Goldridge

I was pretty surprised by the wines I tasted at Dehlinger on my last visit. All of the 2013 reds have put on more weight than they showed last year, which I did not think possible. In particular, the 2013 Pinots, which were so showy last year, appear to have shut down pretty dramatically after bottling. The 2014 Pinots appear to be very close in quality to the 2013s, but at this stage, the differences among the 2014s are mostly textural and not especially marked. Dehlinger describes 2013 and 2014 more similar for Pinot than for the later-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Both were abundant crops, especially for Pinot Noir, and required considerable thinning. It is too early to know if 2013 and 2014 wines represent a stylistic shift under Eva Dehlinger or are instead simply reflections of the respective vintages, but the wines are unquestionably intense.

When I think of the Russian River Valley and its reference-point producers, Dehlinger is always top of mind. Eva Dehlinger is back from a year of studying viticulture in Burgundy. My sense is that she has the ambition to take quality through the roof at her family's winery. The 2012 Pinots are just as exuberant and beautiful from bottle as they were from barrel. The 2013s, on the other hand, are made in a more chiseled style and offer less in the way of immediate gratification. The Pinots and Syrahs are made with fully destemmed fruit and reflect a very classic sense of Russian River exuberance. I was also quite taken with the Cabernet Sauvignons this year, not just for their quality, but also for the exceptional value they provide consumers, something that applies to all the wines here. This is another superb set of wines from one of Sonoma's pioneering families.