Bravium Signal Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir 2011
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Wine
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Wine Enthusiast
A larger selection from Signal Ridge, Bravium’s main bottling is still tiny production, light on its feet and aromatic in rose petal and violet. With notes of black cherry and pomegranate its tannins are silky and the wine deliciously priced.
Other Vintages
2013-
Enthusiast
Wine
Created by winemaker Derek Rohlffs, Bravium is the culmination of meticulous care in the vineyards and a patient approach in the cellar. Derek takes his cues from tradition. He doesn’t alter what the earth gives him. He’s a classic minimalist.
But don’t mistake minimalism for apathy. Quietly guiding a wine in a thoughtful, deliberate way—without intervening at every twist and turn—requires diligent attention to detail and a generous amount of restraint. The wine in the glass is born of a deeply purposeful approach. It is a gift of the land, valued and honored.
Derek grows Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes in coveted cool-climate vineyards in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley and Mendocino’s Anderson Valley.
Derek’s minimalist approach translates the nuances of each coastal vineyard in the glass, illustrating a distinct, transparent sense of place in every sip. The result is a collection of compelling, terroir-driven wines that pair naturally with food and have rare aging potential, relative to their Chardonnay and Pinot Noir peers.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Essentially a northern extension of the Sonoma Coast AVA but part of Mendocino County, Mendocino Ridge is one of the rare appellations defined by elevation only. The Mendocino Ridge AVA is reserved only for vineyards at or above 1,200 feet between the Anderson Valley and Pacific Ocean.